7     'yV'T^ 


*0  PRINCETOlSr,  N.  J. 


Section,.. 
Shelf  Number 


Division 

E.I.5.CP. 


A  COMMENTARY 


ON  tBB 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS 


By  R.  V.  FOSTER,  D.D. 

Professor  in  the  Cumberland  University  Theological  School, 

Lebanon,  Tennessee. 

Author  of  Introduction  to  Study  of  Theology,  Old  Testament  Studies,  etc. 


NASHVILLE,  TENN.: 
GCMBSSLiin)  Pbssbttebiak  PuBu^^;)rQ^  House. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1891, 

By  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN    BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

In  the  •ffice  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


.>^ 


PREFACE. 


This  Commentary  on  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans  was 
written  at  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Publication  whose 
imprint  it  bears.  It  was  the  desire  of  the  board,  as  expressed 
by  Dr.  W.  J.  Darby,  that  I  should  base  my  work  on  the  King 
James  version  of  the  epistle,  and  that  it  should  little  exceed 
a  hundred  thousand  words,  being  only  a  handy  commentary 
intended  chiefly  for  those  readers  who,  in  all  Churches,  will 
ever  be  the  majority.  And  yet  it  is  hoped  that  the  volume 
may  not  be  without  value  to  many  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
who  may  not  often  have  opportunity  to  study  those  works 
which  deal  at  greater  length  with  questions  of  critical  detail. 

Not  only,  however,  was  the  previous  intellectual  prepara- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  reader  for  commentary  study  to  be 
taken  into  consideration,  but  his  purse  as  well ;  for  if  the 
book  had  been  much  larger  it  would  also  have  cost  much 
more,  and  hence  while  it  might  have  done  a  greater  good  to 
the  few,  it  would  have  done  less  to  the  many. 

The  above  words  being  addressed  to  my  readers  in  general 
I  now  beg  to  address  a  few  to  my  reader  in  particular : 

My  object  has  been  to  ascertain  as  clearly  as  possible  at  the 
outset  the  one  thing  of  which  the  Apostle  is  writing  to  the 
Romans,  and  to  keep  distinct  trace  of  this  one  thing  during 
our  movement  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  epistle. 
It  seemed  to  me  possible  to  do  this,  for  before  the  actual 
work  of  writing  the  commentary  was  begun,  I  had  studied 
the  epistle  sufficiently  to  see  that  it  was  not  made  up  of  a 

(iii) 


iv  Preface. 

collection  of  disjointed  chapters  or  paragraphs,  but  that  in 
it  there  was  a  thought  in  which  all  its  other  thoughts  found  a 
bond  of  unity.  I  therefore  ask  the  reader  to  withhold  his 
judgment  concerning  the  merits  or  demerits  of  my  work 
until  he  has  read  the  book  through  carefully,  including  the 
Introduction,  taking  into  consideration  meanwhile  the  words 
above  addressed  to  my  readers  in  general. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  is  regarded  as  the  one  most 
difficult  of  interpretation  in  the  New  Testament.  It  abounds 
in  conjunctions  and  other  words  which  denote  relations ;  and 
relational  words,  though  the  smallest,  are  the  very  ones 
whose  meanings  are  the  most  elusive.  These  are  they  upon 
which  the  reader  must  keep  his  eye  constantly  fixed  if  he 
would  not  drop  the  thread  and  lose  himself  in  the  labyrinth. 
And  let  the  English  reader  say  what  he  will  about  the  unim- 
portance of  knowing  Greek,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  know 
with  any  certainty  what  the  meaning  in  English  is  unless  one 
knows  what  is  the  correspondent  in  the  original. 

I,et  the  English  reader  notice,  for  example,  as  he  reads  the 
epistle,  how  frequently  the  word  "  for,"  or  "  because,"  or 
"  therefore,"  etc.,  occurs,  and  let  him  notice  the  number  of 
instances  in  which  he  can  make  any  thing  out  of  it.  Indeed, 
a  knowledge  of  the  Greek  original  itself  is  not  always  suffi- 
cient, for  instances  are  not  infrequent  in  which  it  devolves  on 
us  to  choose  the  one  we  prefer  of  two  or  more  tolerably  well 
authenticated  Greek  readings;  or,  it  may  be,  the  one  we 
prefer  of  several  well  attested  definitions.  These  are  not 
matters,  ordinarily,  that  interfere  in  any  serious  way  with  any 
of  the  fundamental  doctrines  or  principles  of  Christianity. 
But,  nevertheless,  when  one  comes  to  interpret — and  all  Bible 
students  are  interpreters — it  is  necessary  for  one  to  decide, 
either  tentatively  or  absolutely,  which  one  of  the  two  or  more 
exegetical  possibilities  he  will  prefer. 


Preface. 


No  book  of  the  New  Testament  has  a  larger  literature  than 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  none  has  given  rise  to  a 
longer  list  of  exegetical  opinions,  each  differing  from  all  the 
others.  But  this  only  shows  that  it  is  a  great  epistle,  and 
need  not  be  a  source  of  discouragement  even  to  the  humblest 
student.  The  *'  word,"  at  least  in  its  main  significancies,  "  is 
nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth." 

If  the  reader  is  not  willing  to  walk  without  a  guide  through 
the  museum  wherein  the  wonderful  thoughts  of  the  greatest 
of  the  apostles  are  exhibited,  let  him  select  the  one  whom  he 
is  willing  to  follow  at  least  for  once.  If  he  should  not  find  in 
this  little  volume  the  interpretation  he  prefers,  he  may  be 
comforted  in  knowing  that  he  has  only  to  search  elsewhere, 
in  order  to  find  it,  for  hardly  an  interpretation  could  be 
thought  of  which  some  writer  has  not  entertained.  Are  we, 
therefore,  utterly  at  sea  ?  No.  Protestantism  is  not  excessive 
individualism.  It  thinks  in  recognized  and  organized 
groups,  and  within  certain  defined  limits  every  individual 
finds  himself  thinking  in  harmony  with  his  group. 

It  has  sometimes  been  said  that  it  is  a  blessed  thing  that 
every  poor  sinner  does  not  have  to  understand  the  deep 
things  of  the  Bible  and  of  theology  in  order  to  be  saved.  It 
is  indeed  a  blessed  thing — for  otherwise  none  could  be  saved. 
If  I  may  reverently  make  the  comparison,  it  is  also  a  blessed 
thing  that  every  man  does  not  have  to  understand  the  deep 
things  of  legal  science  in  order  to  citizenship  in  the  State. 
And  yet  every  citizen  may  laudably  desire  to  be  intelligent 
and  somewhat  informed  in  regard  to  that  noble  science. 

It  is  my  earnest  prayer  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  whose  dis- 
pensation we  live,  may  so  use  this  little  volume  as  to  make  it 
helpful  to  some  readers  in  their  effort  to  become  good  citi- 
zens of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth. 

R.  V.  FosT]BR. 


■m-'i^- 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 
Chapter  I. 

PAUIy. 

PAeB. 
I.— Before  His  Conversion i 

1.  The  Name. 

2.  The  Birthplace. 

3.  The  Early  lyife. 

II.— His  Conversion, 10 

1.  The  Preparation. 

2.  From  What  to  What. 

3.  His  Relation  With  Other  Apostles. 

III. — After  His  Conversion, 18 

1.  Preaching  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God. 

2.  In  Celicia  and  Syria. 

3.  His  Person  and  Character. 

Chapter  II. 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 

I.~The  Date, 25 

IL— Authenticity, 25 

III.— The  Church  at  Rome, 26 

IV.— Occasion  and  Design, 28 

v.— Styi^e  of  the  Episti^e, 30 

VI.— Leading  Thoughts,  Words,  Texts,       .       .  35 

VII,— Testimonies  Concerning  the  Epistle,    .       .  39 

(vii) 


viii  TABI.E  OF  Contents. 

Chapter  III. 

THE  TEACHINGS  OF  THE  EPISTLE. 

L— The  Line  of  Thought, 43 

II._Paui,'s  Doctrine  of  Sai^vation,       ...  47 

III.— The  Ethicai,  Teaching, 59 

COMMENTARY. 

L— The  Preface  (i.  1-15). ^5 

IL— The  Doctrine  Announced  (i.  16,  17),          .       .  80 

IIL_The  Doctrine  Expounded  (i.  i8-v.  21),  .        .  84 
IV.— The  Doctrine  in  its  Rei^ation  to  Sanctifi- 

CATiON  (vi.-viii.),      .       •        '        •        •        .182 
v.— The   Doctrine    in    its   Historicai,   Aspects 

(ix.-xi.), 260 

VI.— The  Doctrine  in  its  Ethicai.  Aspects  (xii.-xiv.),  331 

VII.— C0NC1.US10N  AND  Greetings  (xv.,  xvi.),         .  383 


INTRODUCTION, 


CHAPTER  I. 


I.  Before  His  Conversion. 

I.  The  Name:  "Saul  who  was  also  called  Paul." 
The  fact  that  he  whom  we  Gommonly  call  Paul  bore 
also  the  name  Saul  has  been  accounted  for  in  various 
ways.  Some  have  supposed  that  he  obtained  the  name 
from  his  connection  with  the  conversion  of  Sergius 
Paulus,  the  proconsul  of  Cyprus,  of  which  we  have  an 
account  in  the  13th  chapter  of  Acts.  This  opinion  has 
been  held  by  many  eminent  scholars,  both  ancient  and 
modern.  But  it  does  not  seem  to  the  present  writer  at 
all  probable  that  either  Paul  himself  or  his  friends 
adopted  the  name  because  of  the  part  which  he  had  in 
the  conversion  of  the  Roman  governor  of  Cyprus.  To 
have  immortalized  his  elation  over  the  event  in  any 
such  way  as  this  would  have  been  utterly  unlike  Paul. 
Others  have  held  that  the  name  which  his  mother  gave 
him  was  Saul,  that  being  a  name  well  known  in  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin  to  which  he  belonged,  but  that  in  his  ear- 
ly manhood  he  came  to  be  called  Paulus  because  he 
was  small  of  stature.*    The  most  probable  explanation 

*  2  Cor.  X.  10.     Paulus  means  /////<?. 


Introduction. 


of  the  two  names  is  that  "Saul"  was  his  Aramaic 
or  Hebrew  name,  the  name  which  his  Jewish  parents 
gave  him  on  the  day  of  his  circumcision,  and  that  later 
on  when  he  came  to  be  known  by  Gentiles,  per- 
haps even  before  his  conversion,  he  also  received  the 
Roman  name  Paul.  It  had  never  been  uncommon  for 
Israelites  to  receive  two  names,  as  in  the  case  of  Abra- 
ham, Jacob,  Solomon,  Daniel,  etc.,  and  at  this  period 
of  their  history  many  Jews  also  received  names  of 
Greek  or  Roman  origin.  Peter,  the  distinguished 
apostle,  bore  a  Greek  name,  as  did  also  Philip  and 
Stephen.  Forever  severed,  as  he  was,  from  Judaism., 
both  in  his  beliefs  and  in  his  apostolic  labors,  it  is  not 
strange  that  he  should  have  preferred  his  Gentile  name. 
And  by  this  name  in  his  Epistles  he  always  called  him- 
self He  began  to  be  in  a  pre-eminent  sense  the  apos- 
tle to  the  Gentiles  when  he  landed  on  Cyprus,  the 
scene  of  his  first  foreign  missionary  labors,  and  from 
that  time  onward  his  Gentile  friend  and  companion, 
Luke,  speaks  of  him  as  Paul.  It  is  probable  also  that 
his  Roman  name  would  serve  him  a  better  purpose  in 
his  capacity  of  Roman  citizen  than  would  his  Hebrew 
name.  When  Luke  wrote  the  Acts,  Paul  was  an  old 
man,  worn  and  weary,  and  languishing  perhaps  in  a 
Roman  prison.  When  he  first  appears  in  history  as 
the  young  and  violent  persecutor  of  the  cause  for 
which  he  afterward  gave  his  life,  he  is  introduced  as 
"  Saul  who  is  also  Paul; "  and  the  brief  formula  would 
be  enough  to  make  Gentile  or  Jewish  readers,  who  had 
not  known  it  before,  pause  and  think  that  so  great  a 
transition  from  the  man  "Saul"  to  the  man  "Paul" 
could  not  be  brought  about  unless  the  cause  were  also 
a  great  reality. 


Paul.  3 

2.  His  Birthplace.  Tarsus,  the  birthplace  of  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  was  about  five 
hundred  miles  almost  due  north  of  Jerusalem.  It  was 
situated  near  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  on  both 
banks  of  the  cool  and  swift  Cydnus.  At  the  time  of 
Paul's  birth  it  had  been  no  mean  city  for  hundreds  of 
years.  Rawlinson  tells  us  on  the  authority  of  ancient 
inscriptions,  that  it  was  founded  by  the  Assyrian  king 
Sennacherib  about  B.C.  685;  and  from  Xenophon,  who 
wrote  about  B.C.  400,  we  learn  that  it  was  already  a 
great  and  flourishing  city.  Subsequently  it  became 
the  seat  of  a  school  of  philosophy  and  general  educa- 
tion more  famous  even  than  the  schools  of  Alexandria 
or  of  Athens,  and  which  sent  forth  teachers  to  Rome 
itself  and  other  distant  places.  The  great  Stoic  phi- 
losopher, Athenodorus,  the  teacher  of  the  Emperor 
Augustus,  taught  in  the  school  at  Tarsus,  as  did  also 
the  Platonic  Nestor  a  little  later  on,  or  about  the  time 
when  the  young  Saul  was  first  walking  the  thronged 
streets  of  the  great  city. 

Tarsus  became  a  Roman  city  B.C.  66,  receiving  its 
freedom  from  Anthony,  and  the  dignity  of  being 
classed  as  a  metropolis  from  Augustus.  It  was  the 
capital  of  a  rich  province,  and  in  its  harbor  might  be 
seen  ships  from  all  parts  of  the  Mediterranean.  Greeks, 
Romans,  and  Jews  abounded  there — "the  three  peo- 
ples of  God's  election,"  through  whose  unconscious 
agency  was  to  be  brought  about  the  fullness  of  time, 
and  the  chief  instrument  in  the  world-wide  proclama- 
tion of  the  gospel  of  this  fullness  was  also  to  be  the 
young  citizen  of  Tarsus,  whose  name  was  Saul.  But 
for  the  most  part,  "  the  inhabitants  were  vain,  efiem- 
inate  and  luxurious,  more  like  Phoenicians  than 
Greeks,    Their  sensuous  Eastern   religion  in  these 


Introduction. 


golden  days  of  affluence  had  more  attraction  for  them 
than  the  grave  philosophy  of  the  Porch,  and  the  le- 
gend supposed  to  be  graven  on  the  statue  of  Sardanap- 
alus,  at  the  neighbor  city  of  Anchiale,  '  let  us  eat  and 
drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die,'  which  Paul  quotes  in 
I  Cor.  XV.  32,  might  have  been  the  motto  of  the  mass 
of  the  townsmen." 

3.  His  ^arly  I/ife,     It  had  long  been  "the  time 
of  the  dispersion,"  and  we  know  not  when  nor  from 
what  place  Paul's  father  or  forefather  went  to  Tarsus. 
We  are  told  in  the  Acts  that  Paul  was  a  Roman  citi- 
zen, and  he  himself  also  informs  us  that  he  was  born 
a  freeman.     But  no  clew  is  given  us  to  the  ground  on 
which  this  exceptional  distinction  was  based,  and  for 
the  reason  that  the  statement  concerning  his  citizen- 
ship is  only  made  incidentally  in  the  course  of  the 
narrative,  and  is  nowhere  the  special  topic  of  the  his- 
torian's treatment,  it  is  extremely  far-fetched,  there- 
fore, to  doubt  the  reality  of  his  citizenship,  as  some 
have  done,  merely  because  the  ground  of  it  is  not 
given.     It  was  probably  due  to   some  distinguished 
service  which  one  of  the  family  in  former  days  had 
rendered  to  some  distinguished  Roman  ;    though  the 
most  that  can  be  affirmed  with  considerable  certainty 
is  that  it  was  not  due  to  the  fact  that  he  was  born  in 
Tarsus ;  for  this  city  did  not  possess  such  rank  in  the 
list  of  Roman  cities  as  to  confer  the  privilege  of  citi- 
zenship as  a  mere  matter  of  birthright.     As  a  rule  it 
had  to  be  either  earned  or  bought ;  and  the  fact  that  it 
had  been  earned  or  bought  by  one  of  Paul's  ancestors 
of  near  or  remoter  degree  is  a  proof  that  his  family 
was  one  of  some  social  distinction. 

The  exact  date  of  Paul's  birth  is  not  known,  to  us. 


Paui..  5 

He  speaks  of  himself  as  an  old  man  when  in  the  year 
A.D.  62,  he  was  lying  in  prison  at  Rome.  He  is 
spoken  of  as  a  young  man  when  in  the  year  A.D.  33, 
he  participated  in  the  stoning  of  Stephen.  Hence  he 
must  have  been  born  very  nearly  the  same  time  as 
Jesus.  "When  the  boy  Jesus  was  playing  in  the 
streets  of  Nazareth,  the  boy  Paul  was  playing  in  the 
streets  of  his  native  town,  away  on  the  other  side  of 
the  ridges  of  Lebanon.  They  seemed  likely  to  have 
totally  different  careers,  yet  by  the  mysterious  ar- 
rangements of  Providence  these  two  lives,  like  streams 
flowing  from  opposite  water-sheds,  were  one  day,  as 
river  and  tributary,  to  mingle  together."  And  both 
Paul  and  Jesus  carried  with  them  into  their  subsequent 
ministries  as  Master  and  disciple,  the  influences,  ap- 
parently, which  were  about  them  in  their  early  years. 
Jesus  loved  the  country,  and  much  of  his  ministry  was 
spent  in  places  where  nature  was  more  visible  than 
the  work  of  man.  He  loved  to  draw  his  illustrations 
from  rural  sources — the  birds  of  the  air,  the  lilies  of 
the  field,  the  shepherd  leading  his  sheep,  the  sower 
sowing  in  the  field  by  the  wayside,  the  tares,  the  house 
built  upon  the  sand,  or  upon  a  rock,  and  the  vineyard, 
and  the  husbandman,  etc.  And  the  nature  of  his 
earthly  ministry  was  in  deepest  harmonj^  with  these 
influences  of  his  boyhood.  But  with  Paul  we  are  i:i 
a  different  atmosphere.  He  was  born  and  reared  in 
the  great  city.  He  was  used  to  scenes  of  tramp  and 
hurry,  and  monuments  of  human  energy;  and  is  thus 
wisely  fitted  to  become  the  bearer  of  Christianity  to  the 
world's  great  centers  of  population  and  power.  He 
preaches  and  writes  to  the  people  gathered  at  Antioch, 
and  Ephesus,  and  Thessalonica,  and  Corinth,  and 
Rome.     He  is  equally  at  home  with  Jew,  and  Greek, 


Introduction. 


and  Roman,  and  barbarian  of  nameless  blood.  And 
we  see  that  his  speech  abounds  in  illustrations  drawn 
from  scenes  of  busy  life — the  athlete  engaged  in  the 
wrestle  or  the  race,  the  soldier  panoplied  in  full  ar- 
mor, the  swordsman  who  fights  not  as  one  beating 
the  air,  and  many  others  of  like  sort,  all  of  which 
were  matters  of  daily  observation  to  those  whom  he 
addressed.  Jesus  himself  consecrated  this  Paul  to  his 
ministry  among  the  Gentiles  of  msmy  cities  and  many 
nationalities ;  and  both  in  respect  to  his  mission  and 
the  grandeur  of  zeal,  and  energy,  and  judgment,  with 
which  he  accomplished  it,  no  man  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment history  is  more  unique  than  he. 

We  do  not  know  how  much  of  his  education  Paul 
received  in  the  schools  at  Tarsus.  It  is  probable,  how- 
ever, that  he  lived  there  until  he  was  at  least  twelve 
years  of  age ;  and  that  he  attended  the  Jewish  school 
in  connection  with  the  synagogue,  learning  the  princi- 
pal facts  in  regard  to  the  history  of  his  own  remarka- 
ble nation,  and  reading  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
in  the  Alexandrian  Greek  version,  from  which  he  after- 
ward made  the  most  of  his  quotations  when  writing 
his  epistles.  His  father  being  a  man  of  some  promi- 
nence, as  his  Roman  citizenship  may  imply,  and  being 
doubtless  also  a  Pharisee  of  the  straightest  type,  would 
lay  no  small  stress  on  the  importance  of  his  son's  know- 
ing the  literature  and  traditions  of  his  own  people.  He 
must  also  have  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  the 
I^atin  tongue,as  well  as  of  the  native  dialects  of  Cilicia. 
The  fact  that  in  his  writings  he  rarely  quoted  from  the 
Greek  literature  does  not  argue  a  want  of  acquaintance 
with  it ;  and  the  fact  that  in  two  instances  at  least  he 
does  quote  from  Greek  poets  does  argue  a  greater  de- 
gree of  familiarity  with  the  literature  than  was  pos- 


Paul.  7 

sessed  by  the  vast  majority  even  of  the  better  class 
of  Jews.  It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  even  a  stray  copy 
of  Aratus,  or  Cleanthus,  or  any  Greek  poet  or  phi- 
losopher, was  often  on  sale  in  the  Jerusalem  book 
market. 

At  Tarsus  Paul  learned  the  trade  of  tent-making 
out  of  the  Cilician  hair-cloth  so  extensively  manufact- 
ured there.  From  this,  however,  we  can  infer  nothing 
as  to  the  poverty  or  wealth  of  his  father,  for  in  view  of 
the  uncertainties  of  human  fortune,  it  was  the  excel- 
lent custom  of  every  Jewish  parent  to  teach  his  son  a 
trade.  Even  the  most  learned  doctors  of  the  law  had 
their  trade,  and  it  was  not  regarded  as  disreputable  for 
the  most  learned  rabbi  to  make  his  living  by  working 
with  his  hands.  Indeed,  it  was  regarded  as  a  degrada- 
tion of  the  law  for  a  Jew  to  make  his  living  by  teach- 
ing the  law.  The  combination  of  some  secular  busi- 
ness with  the  study  of  the  law  was  especially  recom- 
mended by  the  great  Gamaliel.  But  whether,  as  a 
matter  of  expediency  or  otherwise,  the  trade  which 
Paul  learned  in  his  youth  served  him  an  excellent  pur- 
pose in  his  after  years ;  and  in  the  light  of  the  peculiar 
civilization  of  his  day  it  was  not  regarded  as  a  strange 
or  pathetic  thing  that  the  apostle,  even  in  his  old  age, 
should  preach  gratuitously  and  earn  his  living  by  mak- 
ing tents.  In  the  light  of  his  Jewish  training  and  sur- 
roundings, his  saying  that  the  laborer  in  the  gospel 
"  is  worthy  of  his  hire,"  is  very  significant,  and  one 
which  not  even  apostolic  authority  could  have  insisted 
upon  in  his  day. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  the  Jewish  boy  became  what 
was  technically  called  bar  mitsoah,  or  **  son  of  the  law," 
which  meant  that  he  was  then  expected  to  begin  to 
observe  the  Mosaic  law  like  older  people,  and  was 


8  Introduction. 


taken  up  to  the  temple  feasts,  and  began  to  observe 
the  feasts,  especially  the  great  day  of  Atonement.  It 
may  have  been  about  this  time  that  the  young  Saul 
began  his  career  at  Jerusalem  as  a  student  under  the 
great  doctors  of  the  law,  of  whom  Rabban  Gamaliel 
was  at  that  time  the  most  distinguished.  But  whatever 
may  have  been  the  exact  date,  the  ardent  youth  must 
have  entered  upon  his  studies  with  the  greatest  enthu- 
siasm, and  it  would  seem  that  his  zeal  never  abated. 
While  the  young  Saul  was  thus  pushing  forward  with 
the  utmost  eagerness  to  the  day  of  his  graduation  in 
the  college  at  Jerusalem,  the  young  Jesus,  with  whom 
he  was  afterward  to  be  so  intimately  associated,  was 
quietly  abiding  his  time,  growing  in  favor  with  God  and 
man,  in  the  life  of  obscurity  at  Nazareth.  It  was  the 
custom  of  the  youthful  rabbis,  on  completing  their 
studies,  to  scatter  abroad  over  the  world  wherever  there 
were  Jews,  for  the  purpose  of  beginning  their  practi- 
cal work.  Of  course  we  do  not  know  when  Paul  re- 
ceived his  degree  and  left  Jerusalem,  nor  do  we  know 
where  he  went,  but  it  must  have  been  about  the  time 
that  Jesus  began  his  public  ministry,  and  he  must 
have  gone  to  a  city  which  Jesus  did  not  visit,  for  he 
himself  tells  us  that  he  never  saw  Jesus  in  the  flesh. 
Had  he  remained  in  Jerusalem,  so  zealous  and  rigid 
a  Pharisee  would  doubtless  have  met  him  who  at- 
tracted so  much  attention  in  the  temple  and  rebuked 
the  Pharisees  so  scathingly.  But  after  a  while  he 
came  back.  Jesus,  the  Nazarine,  was  no  longer  there 
in  person,  but  in  his  stead  there  was  a  hated  sect  of 
Nazarines,  followers  of  Jesus,  and  Saul  began  to  per- 
secute them  bitterly.  They  did  not  hold  his  views 
concerning  the  Mosaic  law,  nor  did  they  hold  their 
own  views  silently.     Paul's  was  an  astute  mind,  but  he 


Paul.  9 

forgot  during  at  least  one  short  period  of  his  life  that 
the  best  way  to  destroy  a  supposed  wrong  is  to  build 
up  the  opposite  right.  No  error,  whether  real  or  un- 
real, can  ever  be  eradicated  by  dragging  its  advocates 
to  prison  either  in  the  literal  or  figurative  sense. 

There  is  no  conclusive  evidence  that  Saul  ever  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Sanhedrin,  and  it  is  probable 
that  he  never  did.  He  was  an  intense  Pharisee,  he 
had  a  profound  knowledge  of  the  law,  he  was  skilled 
in  legal  disputations,  he  was  an  active  and  violent 
persecutor  of  the  first  Christians,  he  had  the  con- 
fidence of  Jews  in  authority,  and  this  is  all  that  can 
be  said  with  certainty  in  respect  to  this  ever  open 
question.  And  it  is  a  question,  after  all,  of  no  im- 
portance. It  is  probable,  however,  that  he  would 
have  become  a  member,  or  else  greater  than  a  mem- 
ber, had  he  not  become  a  Christian.  Nor  can  it  ever 
be  shown  that  he  was,  or  was  not,  at  any  period  of  his 
life  a  married  man.  It  is  quite  certain  that  he  had  no 
wife  while  he  was  an  apostle,  but  any  one  is  at  liberty 
to  suppose  that  he  was  a  widower.  Paul  himself  no- 
where says  any  thing  that  is  opposed  to  such  a  sup- 
position. It  was  a  rule  that  members  of  the  San- 
hedrin  should  be  married  men,  but  as  his  member- 
ship in  that  body  is  an  open  question,  so  also  is  this 
other  in  so  far  as  it  depends  upon  the  former.  Of 
Paul's  family  in  Jerusalem  all  that  we  know  is,  that 
he  had  a  married  sister  there,  and  that  she  had  a  son 
who  was  instrumental  on  one  occasion  in  rescuing  his 
uncle  from  the  violence  of  the  Jews. 


lo  Introduction. 


II.  Saul's  Conversion. 

I.  The  Preparation,  Saul's  conversion  was 
not  as  sudden  as  it  may  usually  seem  to  the  casual 
reader  to  have  been.  That  is  to  say,  it  did  not  take 
place  without  a  previous  mental  or  spiritual  prepara- 
tion therefor.  He  was  not  breathing  out  threatenings 
against  the  Christians  when  he  was  converted,  nor 
for  some  little  while  before.  The  journey  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Damascus  was  a  many  days'  journey,  and  it 
is  a  fact  quite  worthy  of  notice  that  he  was  not  con- 
verted near  Jerusalem.  One  may  easily  do  in  the 
excitement  of  the  moment  and  when  the  object  of 
his  rage  is  at  hand  that  which  he  can  not  do  after 
calm  reflection.  On  the  long  and  silent  journey 
there  was  opportunity  for  the  still  small  voice.  It 
could  assert  itself  in  the  calm  of  the  Syrian  plain  as 
it  could  not  do  amid  the  passionate  and  whirling  life 
at  Jerusalem.  Saul's  zeal  as  a  persecutor  brought 
him  to  his  critical  moment,  and  at  the  critical  moment 
his  zeal  failed  him.  But  it  is  not  probable  that  he 
was  satisfied  thoroughly  with  himself  when  he  left 
Jerusalem.  He  wanted  to  be  in  a  state  of  harmony 
with  God,  and  he  felt  that  he  was  not,  and  his  zeal  in 
persecuting  the  sect  which  he  thought  was  obnoxious 
to  God  did  not  bring  him  that  sense  of  inward  peace 
which  he  may  have  thought  it  would  ;  and  his  going 
to  Damascus  to  engage  in  further  persecutions  was 
only  with  the  hope  of  buying  at  a  larger  price  in  the 
same  coin  the  peace  which  he  desired  and  had  not 
obtained.  It  was  as  Luther  doing  small  penances  and 
then  walking  over  the  mountains  to  Rome  that  he 
might  do  larger  ones,  seeking  peace  and  finding  it 


Paul.  h 

not.  There  were,  however,  plenty  of  Pharisees  at 
Jerusalem  who  were  restful  enough  of  heart — restful 
because  they  were  dead.  The  commandment  had  not 
come  to  them,  and  hence  they  had  no  consciousness 
of  sin  or  of  being  in  discord  with  God.  But  Saul's 
profound  knowledge  of  the  whole  Mosaic  law,  and 
his  keen  appreciation  of  its  spiritual  import,  would 
by  no  means  permit  him  to  be  satisfied  with  the  dead 
formality  of  mere  outward  observance.  When  the 
seed  which  Gamaliel  sowed  fell  into  Paul's  heart  it 
fell  into  deeper  and  richer  soil  than  the  average,  and 
it  was  destined  to  spring  up  and  produce  fruit  which 
Gamaliel  himself  did  not  dream  of  And  the  subject 
of  the  address  of  Stephen,  in  whose  martyrdom  he 
himself  had  participated,  was  the  spiritual  signifi- 
cance of  the  law.  Saul  had  too  keen  and  profound 
an  intellect,  and  too  sensitive  a  nature,  not  to  see  the 
point  of  the  address  plainly.  And  his  unrest  was 
made  only  the  more  unrestful.  He  had  opportunity 
to  think  on  all  these  things  deliberately  and  at  length 
as  he  traveled  toward  Damascus;  and  the  vision  of 
the  martyr's  face  "  as  it  had  been  that  of  an  angel," 
was  doubtless  often  before  him  in  the  quiet  hours,  and 
the  memory  of  his  dying  words,  "  Father,  lay  not  this 
sin  to  their  charge,"  must  have  abided  with  him. 
Years  afterward  in  one  of  his  references  to  his  life 
before  his  conversion  the  only  event  which  he  men- 
tions in  particular  was  the  fact  that  he  had  partici- 
pated in  the  stoning  of  Stephen.  The  words  would 
seem  to  have  been  spoken  as  with  a  suppressed  sob. 
"  Thou  knowest  that  I  consented  to  the  death  of  thy 
martyr."  The  central  thought  of  Stephen's  preach- 
ing, and  his  prayer,  and  his  death,  were  the  blows 
which  Saul  could  not  resist.     And  so  at  last,  far  away 


12  Introduction. 


from  Jerusalem  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  the  conflict 
with  his  weakening  Pharisaism  on  the  one  hand  and 
his  increasing  convictions  on  the  other  culminated  in 
the  everlasting  downfall  of  Saul  the  Pharisee.  Such 
was  the  natural  process  which  led  to  his  conversion, 
and  through  such  a  process,  differing  perhaps  only  in 
the  intensity  of  the  struggle,  has  many  another  man 
been  caused  to  pass.  The  Law  is  alwa3^s  the  Slave 
who  must  lead  man  to  Christ.  There  is  a  light,  as 
real  as  any  light,  which  we  can  not  see  with  our 
usual  eyes;  there  is  a  voice,  as  real  as  any  voice, 
which  we  can  not  hear  with  our  usual  ears.  And 
when  the  darkness  hitherto  has  been  dark  enough, 
and  the  conviction  and  struggle  suddenly  culminate 
in  the  overthrow  of  our  old  selves,  then  our  other 
eyes  may  be  opened  to  the  Light  from  heaven,  and 
our  other  ears  to  the  voice  of  Him  whom  we  had 
persecuted ;  and  it  is  no  doubt  true  that  this  quicken- 
ing of  our  spiritual  senses  may,  if  intense  enough, 
produce  a  temporar}^  paralj^sis  of  our  physical  senses. 
There  may  have  been  more  than  all  this  in  the  inci- 
dents connected  with  Saul's  conversion ;  but  whether 
so  or  not  all  this  is  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of 
the  narrative  which  has  been  furnished  by  Paul  him- 
self and  the  historian  Luke.  Paul  related  the  inci- 
dents as  he  actually  experienced  them,  and  he  re- 
garded the  experience  as  abundant  proof  that  he 
really  had  been  persecuting  the  glorified  Son  of  God, 
And  all  the  logic  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Jewish  world 
could  not  force  him  to  gainsay  his  own  experience. 
He  knew  his  past  mental  conflict,  he  knew  his  pres- 
ent peace,  he  remembered  the  Light  which  had 
flashed  upon  him,  and  the  Voice  which  he  had  heard, 
too  well  for  further  debate  with  himself. 


Paul.  13 

2.  From  What  to  What,  But  from  what  was 
Saul  converted  and  /<?  what  was  he  converted?  it 
being  understood  that  we  use  the  term  conversion 
here,  not  in  the  sense  of  regeneration  or  the  change 
**from  nature  to  grace."  His  new  birth  differed  in  no 
essential  respect  from  the  regeneration,  or  new  birth 
of  any  other  man.  But  when  we  speak  of  Saul's  con- 
version, from  what  do  we  understand  that  he  was  con- 
verted, and  to  what?  It  is  not  quite  right  to  say  that 
he  was  converted  from  Judaism  to  Christianity.  That 
is  what  Paul's  Jewish  enemies  were  always  afi&rming, 
and  it  is  what  Paul  himself  often  felt  it  necessary  to 
deny.  Strictly  speaking  he  was  not  converted  from 
Judaism,  for  in  the  true  sense  of  that  term  he  was  al- 
ways more  faithful  to  Judaism  than  the  Jews  who  op- 
posed him.  Christianity  and  the  genuine  old  Judaism 
from  Abraham  to  Moses,  and  onward  were  only  two 
phases  of  one  and  the  same  thing.  Paul  knew  very 
well  that  justification,  harmony  with  God,  salvation 
in  short,  which  was  the  end  ostensibly  aimed  at  by 
both  Jew  and  Christian,  was  attained  in  precisely  the 
same  way  in  the  Old  Testament  as  it  was  according  to 
the  teachings  of  Stephen,  himself,  and  other  Chris- 
tians. It  was  the  Jew  who  had  per\^erted  the  teach- 
ing of  the  law,  who  had  failed  to  recognize  the  spirit 
of  the  law,  and  not  Paul.  He,  having  seen  it  himself, 
meant  to  call  his  brother  Jew  back  to  the  true  spirit- 
ual interpretation  of  the  law,  such  indeed  as  he  might 
often  have  read  in  the  great  Psalmist  (Psalm  li.  17, 
19 ;  and  the  great  Prophet  Isaiah  i.  1 1-16,  etc.).  There 
could,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  be  but  one  way 
for  man  to  have  peace  with  God,  and  this  way  was  as 
open  to  one  man  as  to  another.  The  old  Judaism 
recognized  this,  as  Stephen  and  Paul  well  knew.     It 


14  Introduction. 


was  the  scribe  and  Pharisee  who  by  their  manifold  tra- 
ditions had  made  the  law  of  no  effect.  It  was  these 
who  had  criminally  failed  to  understand  their  own 
Scriptures,  forsaking  the  old  landmarks,  and  also 
leading  the  people  away.  So  far  as  the  outward  form 
of  Judaism  was  concerned,  circumcision  and  all  the 
other  details,  Paul  cared  very  little  for  these  one  way 
or  another,  neither  on  the  part  of  himself  nor  of  his 
converts,  provided  only  the  inward  spirit  could  be 
duly  recognized.  The  continuation  of  the  old  ordi- 
nances was  quite  consistent  with  Paul's  views,  but 
they  were  really  not  essential,  and  there  was  really  no 
reason  why  the  converts,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles, 
should  be  incumbered  with  them,  they  were  in  the 
first  place  only  tokens  and  memorials  of  the  divine 
purpose  of  salvation,  and  of  their  own  relation  to  this 
purpose;  and  a  much  simpler  system  of  tokens  and 
memorials,  as  for  instance  an  organized  community 
of  those  who  held  to  Judaism  in  its  spirit,  with  a  few 
simple  rites,  would  do  just  as  well  now  as  the  old 
elaborate  system  had  formerly  done.  And  indeed  a 
good  deal  better,  for  the  simpler  system  would  not  be 
so  burdensome,  nor  so  likely  to  conceal  from  view  the 
true  inner  core  of  the  matter — which  was  that,  what- 
ever outward  forms  there  might  be,  the  only  way  after 
all  for  any  man  to  be  in  a  state  of  harmony  with  God, 
and  hence  really  happy,  was  to  have  that  disposition 
toward  God  which  is  often  expressed  by  the  one  word, 
Faith.  It  was  in  part  then,  these  views  to  which  Paul 
was  converted,  and  it  was  the  lifeless  and  prevalent 
Pharisaism  from  which  he  was  converted. 

But  having  been  turned  about  to  such  an  extent  as 
this,  Paul  could  not  fail  also  to  see  that  the  salvation 
for  which  he  had  longed  was  the  right  no  less  of  the 


Paui..  15 

Gentile  than  of  the  Jew,  for  how  could  God  prefer  one 
sinful  person  to  another  sinful  in  the  same  sense  and 
in  the  same  degree  ?  And  this  led  him  to  the  grasp 
of  Israel's  real  mission,  which  was,  not  the  selfish 
enjoyment  of  a  gift  given  to  it  only,  but  that  it  should 
be  the  means  of  distributing  the  knowledge  of  a  com- 
mon gift  to  all  men,  and  of  bringing  all  men  into 
actual  possession  of  it.  It  was  this  farther  step  that 
widened  and  deepened  the  chasm  between  Paul  and 
the  Pharisees. 

Paul  had  seen  the  germs  of  these  views  to  which  he 
was  converted  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus  as  represented 
in  the  preaching  of  Stephen  and  other  first  Christians 
in  Jerusalem,  and  he  had  detected  their  significance 
and  tendency  with  a  keener  insight  perhaps  than  the 
majority  of  these  earliest  preachers  themselves  had 
done;  and  the  very  moment  he  became  convinced 
that  this  Jesus  was  really  the  Messiah,  by  witnessing 
for  himself  his  glorified  humanity,  the  question  was 
settled  forever  with  him.  He  did  not  abandon  the 
Old  Testament,  for  he  constantly  quoted  from  it  in 
confirmation  of  his  views,  and  hence  he  did  not  aban- 
don Judaism.  He  simply  abandoned  its  perversions, 
linking  in  his  teaching  the  true  old  with  the  new 
phase,  and  endeavoring  in  a  life-long  effort,  so  far  as 
his  relation  to  his  brother  Jews  was  concerned,  to  call 
them  back  to  the  ancient  doctrine  of  a  world-wide 
salvation  by  grace  through  faith,  rather  than  a  Jewish 
salvation  by  works  consisting  in  legal  observances. 
But  never  was  any  man  more  misunderstood  by  his 
own  countrymen  than  was  Paul.  Savonarola,  John 
Huss,  Jerome,  and  some  others,  have  in  a  small  way, 
lived  a  little  in  advance  of  their  day ;  but  Paul  was 
eighteen  centuries  in  advance  of  his  people — and  how 


1 6  Introduction. 


much  more  than  this?  for  the  Jews  as  a  people  have 
not  yet  moved  up  abreast  of  Paul. 

3.  PauVs  Relation   to  Other  Apostles.    But 

we  might  as  well  ask  just  here,  in  what  doctrinal  atti- 
tude did  this  conversion  of  Paul,  as  above  defined, 
place  him  in  respect  to  the  other  apostles — Peter  and 
and  James  in  particular.  And  we  feel  obliged  to 
answer  the  question  by  saying  that  they  occupied 
essentially  the  same  ground,  though  they  did  not  see 
their  position  so  clearly  as  Paul  saw  his,  nor  did  they 
have  so  thorough  a  grasp  of  its  details  and  tenden- 
cies. Like  Paul,  Peter  and  James  held  that  that 
which  after  a  while  was  called  the  gospel  was,  not 
something  essentially  different  from  Judaism,  but  only 
another  phase  of  Judaism ;  and  a  phase  at  that  with 
which  the  old  ordinances  were  not  at  all  inconsistent. 
Circumcision  and  the  rest,  thought  they,  can  serve 
their  proper  end  as  symbols  and  memorials  of  God's 
redemptive  purpose  no  less  truly  under  the  new 
phase  than  they  did  under  the  old.  But  Paul  reached 
his  conclusion  in  regard  to  the  share  which  the  Gen- 
tiles might  have  in  this  salvation  in  advance  of  Peter 
and  James,  and  with  a  greater  degree  of  mental  assur- 
ance of  the  correctness  of  his  position.  And  at  last 
when  these  two  leading  apostles  did  advance  so  far  as 
to  see  that  the  gospel  might  be  preached  also  to  the 
Gentiles,  they  were  still  a  good  deal  more  dim  sighted 
than  Paul  in  regard  to  the  question  of  the  old  ordi- 
nances. With  Paul  the  matter  of  their  observance  or 
non-observance,  whether  by  Gentile  or  Jewish  con- 
vert, was  a  mere  matter  of  expediency,  while  with 
Peter  and  James  it  was,  for  a  considerable  time  at  least, 
rather  a  matter  of  conscience.     The  Holy  Spirit  was 


Paul.  17 

leading  the  apostles  into  all  the  truth,  was  leading 
them  gradually.  Every  mind  is  not  so  constituted 
that  it  can  be  caused  to  reach  the  truth  at  a  single 
bound;  nor  indeed  had  Paul  himself  so  reached  it. 
The  usual  method  of  the  Spirit  in  leading  the  Church 
forward  from  truth  to  truth  is  the  gradual  method  of 
the  rising  sun. 

Had  the  Jews  as  a  people  intelligently  accepted  the 
new  phase  of  Judaism,  or  of  what  is  commonly  called 
the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  introduced  by  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  they  might,  without  any  violence 
whatever  to  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  have  kept  up 
the  old  Mosaic  ordinances.  Circumcision  and  bap- 
tism might  still  have  been  employed  as  tokens  of 
membership,  and  the  sacrifices,  and  the  Lord's-supper 
might  still  have  been  employed  as  tokens  of  faith  in 
the  broken  body  and  the  shed  blood  of  the  Lamb  slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  That  was  what 
the  sacrifices  used  to  be,  or  at  least  that  was  their 
original  attention — memorials  of  God's  promise  and 
purpose  of  redemption,  though  the  old  Israelites  did 
not  always  so  regard  them.  It  was  easy  enough  doc- 
trinally  thus  to  retain  the  ordinances,  and  at  the  same 
time  admit  all  that  was  involved  in  the  Messiahship 
of  Jesus ;  and  Peter  and  James,  at  first  at  least,  were 
in  favor  of  doing  this.  But  Paul  was  more  progres- 
sive and  bolder,  seeing  clearly  that  so  much  symbolism 
had  already,  under  its  abuses,  concealed  the  truth 
from  the  people  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  would 
reveal  it ;  and  seeing  also  that  there  could  be  no  man- 
ner of  use  in  incumbering  the  new  phase  of  Mosaism 
which  they  preached  with  such  a  mass  of  burdensome 
and  already  perverted  ordinances.  Some  minds  can 
not  thrive  on  the  truth  without  the  aid  of  outward 


1 8  Introduction. 


symbols  of  truth,  but  Paul's  was  not  such  a  mind. 
And  so  at  the  very  outset  of  his  ministry  he  differed 
with  Peter  and  James — not  at  all  in  regard  to  the 
inner  and  essential  truth,  but  only  in  regard  to  the 
question  as  to  whether  they  ought  to  employ  a  certain 
set  of  outward  symbols.  Paul's  field  of  labor  evi- 
dently did  not  lie  within  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and 
it  was  a  blessed  thing  for  the  Gentile  world  that  it  did 
not.  That  was  the  providential  place  of  the  much 
more  conservative  James,  for  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem 
also  must  have  at  least  a  briefly  lingering  opportunity. 

III.  After  His  Conversion. 

I.  Preaching   Jesus   as   the   Son    of   God. 

After  the  culminating  point  in  his  conversion  was 
reached  on  the  road  near  Damascus,  and  the  sight  of 
the  living  and  glorified  body  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
and  the  incidents  which  occurred  in  the  house  of 
Ananias,  Paul  straightway  preached  this  Jesus  in  the 
synagogues,  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God.  This  truth 
was  the  one  of  fundamental  importance  in  the  new 
phase  of  the  Old  Testament  religion  called  the  gospel, 
and  of  which  we  spoke  in  the  foregoing  section.  To 
admit  the  divine  Sonship  of  Jesus,  was  to  admit 
every  thing  that  constituted  the  gospel.  So  it  was,  at 
least,  with  any  Jew,  though  not  so  perhaps  with  the 
modern  Gentile  who  is  also  nominally  a  Christian. 
He  may  be  indisposed  to  doubt  the  historical  evidence 
in  favor  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus,  and  yet  be  any  thing 
else  than  a  Christian  at  heart.  If  Paul  could  induce 
his  hearers,  whether  Jewish  or  Gentile,  to  believe  that 
Jesus  was  really  the  Son  of  God  the  fundamental 
point  would  be  gained,  for  though  it  might  not  set 


Paul.  19 

them  right  in  all  matters  of  private  morals  and  relig- 
ious worship,  it  would  be  equivalent  to  the  full  com- 
mittal of  themselves  to  the  gospel.  He  could  make 
no  progress,  therefore,  in  winning  converts  until  this 
doctrinal  point  was  gained,  and  hence  the  emphasis 
which  he  so  often  places  in  his  preaching  on  the  evi- 
dential value  of  the  facts  pertaining  to  Jesus,  particu- 
larly his  resurrection,  of  which  he  himself  had  ocu- 
lar proof.  "  If  Christ  be  not  risen  our  hope  is  vain." 
If  Christ  be  not  risen  we  have  no  proof  that  he  was 
the  Son  of  God;  if  he  was  not  the  Son  of  God  his 
death  was  of  no  avail,  and  there  is  no  basis  of  hope 
for  peace  or  harmony  with  God — no  more  than  if  the 
world  had  never  heard  or  dreamed  of  Christ.  The 
first  preaching  of  the  apostle  was  therefore  necessarily 
Christological  and  argumentative,  the  heart  and  the 
life  having  to  be  reached  through  that  mental  faculty 
which  apprehends  evidence. 

How  long  Paul  continued  to  preach  at  Damascus 
we  have  no  possible  means  of  knowing,  the  "many 
days"  mentioned  in  the  account  in  the  Acts  being 
indefinite.  It  was  three  years,  however,  before  he 
returned  to  Jerusalem.  He  went  from  Damascus  into 
Arabia,  but  to  what  place  or  ^places  it  is  useless  to 
inquire.  No  man  will  ever  know.  But  it  is  not 
probable  that  he  went  in  order  that  he  might  in  soli- 
tude adjust  himself  to  his  new  convictions,  or  receive 
revelations  concerning  what  he  afterward  called  his 
gospel.  He  was  already  adjusted  most  thoroughly  to 
his  new  convictions,  and  he  received  revelations  from 
time  to  time  during  his  ministry  as  he  needed  them. 
He  may  have  gone  into  Arabia  for  the  purpose  of 
preaching  Jesus  as  the  Savior,  and  the  way  of 
peace  with  God  to  a  city  or  people  not  mentioned  in 


20  Introduction. 


connection  with  his  ministry ;  or  he  may  have  gone 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  rest  and  strength 
which  would  doubtless  be  much  needed  after  so  long 
a  period  of  intense  mental  conflict  and  excitement  as 
that  through  which  he  had  just  passed.  We  know 
not.  We  can  only  say  that  this  retirement  of  Paul 
from  history  was  no  period  of  idle  and  listless  wan- 
dering. 

After  a  while  he  returned  to  Damascus  where  he 
preached  Jesus  with  such  earnestness  and  boldness 
that  the  Jews  took  counsel  as  to  how  they  might  slay 
him,  as  they  in  Jerusalem  had  for  the  same  cause 
slain  Stephen.  But  his  time  was  not  come,  and  he 
fled  to  Jerusalem.  Although  it  had  been  three  years 
since  he  had  left  Jerusalem,  and  although  the  whole 
current  of  his  life  had  changed,  the  brethren  there,  it 
seems,  had  received  no  information  concerning  him, 
they  were  afraid  to  receive  him,  for  Saul,  the  fierce 
persecutor  of  the  Christians,  was  still  fresh  in  their 
memory.  He  might  now  be  only  a  wolf  in  sheep's 
clothing.  But  Barnabas  knew  him ;  and  so  Paul  be- 
gan to  preach  to  that  same  audience  of  Grecian  Jews 
which  a  few  years  before  had  been  addressed  by 
Stephen,  and  of  which*  he  himself  had  been  one.  But 
only  fifteen  days  had  passed  before  he  was  obliged  to 
flee  again  for  his  life.  He  went  to  Cesar ea  and  thence, 
perhaps  by  ship,  to  Tarsus. 

2.  Cilicia  and  Syria,  For  four  or  five  years 
more  Paul  disappears  from  history.  The  great  work 
of  his  life  as  the  recognized  apostle  to  the  Gentile 
world  is  not  yet  open  to  him.  We  can  easily  infer, 
however,  that  during  this  long  interval  of  silence  on 
the  part  of  the  historian,  Paul  is  engaged  in  preaching 


Paui.. 


21 


the  gospel  in  unoflScial  ways  in  his  native  Tarsus  and 
other  parts  of  Cilicia.  At  last  Barnabas  is  sent  to  An- 
tioch  by  the  Church  in  Jerusalem  to  engage  in  the 
great  work  that  was  going  on  there.  And  Barnabas 
remembers  Saul,  and  going  on  to  Tarsus  in  search  of 
him  again  brings  him  into  the  sphere  of  the  Church's 
work.  For  one  whole  year  he  and  Saul  preach  the 
gospel  in  the  power  and  demonstration  of  the  Spirit 
to  the  multitudes  of  Grecian  Jews  and  others  who 
thronged  the  synagogues  in  the  great  Syrian  city  near 
the  sea.  This  year's  work  brought  Paul  face  to  face 
with  what  was  to  be  his  life's  mission.  The  Spirit 
said  ''Separate  unto  me  Barnabas  and  Saul."  The 
Church  placed  itself  into  what  we  may  call  official  re- 
lation with  the  heathen  world.  The  gates  were  opened; 
and  Saul  sailed  from  Antioch  to  Cyprus,  and  thence 
to  various  points  in  Asia  Minor  on  his  first  great  mis- 
sionary tour.  Henceforth  he  is  pre-eminently  the 
recognized  missionary  to  the  Gentiles,  and  henceforth 
he  is  in  labors  and  suffering  ''more  abundant  than 
they  all,"  founding  churches  all  along  from  the  Cyd- 
nus  to  Italy,  and  perhaps  beyond,  and  having  on  his 
shoulders  the  burden  of  them  all.  He  wrote  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Churches  which  he  established,  or  which 
were  under  his  direct  influence,  and  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Church  of  all  subsequent  ages,  epistles  making  in 
all  nearly  twice  as  much  as  the  apostle  John  wrote,  and 
nearly  a  third  of  the  entire  New  Testament.  It  was 
largely  through  Paul  and  his  subordinate  workers  that 
Asia  Minor,  the  islands  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and 
the  western  Roman  world,  were  conquered  for  Christ. 

3.  Other  Missionary  Labors.    From  the  time 
of  Paul's  conversion  to  the  date  of  his  first  missionary 


22  Introduction. 


tour  from  Antioch  was  a  period  of  seven  or  eight, 
years.     From  the  beginning  of  this  tour  to  the  sup- 
posed date  of  his  martyrdom  by  Nero,  was  a  period  of 
about  twenty  years.     Four  of  these  years,  or  on  the 
hypothesis  of  a  second  imprisonment  at  Rome  even 
more  than  four,  were  spent  in  captivity  as  the  "  pris- 
oner of  Christ;"  and  with  the  chain  about  his  arm, 
the  other  end  of  which  was  fastened  to  a  Roman  sol- 
dier, the  apostle,  whose  zeal  could  by  no  means  be 
quenched,  preached  Christ  and  wrote  immortal  epis- 
tles.    Sometimes  he  was  in  perils  of  the  sea.     Some- 
times he  might  be  seen  working  as  a  day-laborer  at 
tent-making  so  that  he  might  enable  himself  to  preach 
the  gospel.     Sometimes  he  was  in  peril  of  wild  beasts, 
whether  on  his  journeys  or  in  the  gladiatorial  arena, 
forced  to  fight  for  the  amusement  of  a  Roman  or  bar- 
barian rabble.     Sometimes  he  might  be  seen  lying  by 
the  roadside  as  one  dead,  stoned  by  the  brutal  mob. 
Sometimes  he  was  collecting  funds  from  the  Churches 
which  he  founded,  for  the  benefit  of  the  impoverished 
members  of  the  mother  Church  at  Jerusalem  which 
was  always  loath  to  receive  him.     Sometimes  he  was 
lying  in  a  Roman  jail,  beaten  with  as  many  stripes  as 
the  law  would  allow.     And  at  last  when  the  end  was 
near  at  hand  he  could  say  in  looking  back  over  it  all, 
"I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  kept  the  faith;" 
and  no  man  who  was  ever  born  into  this  world  could 
say  it  with  more  truth  than  did  Paul.     In  point  of  suf- 
fering and  self-sacrifice,  the  labors  of  the  greatest 
evangelists  of  our  country  pale  into  trifles  and  shame 
as  compared  with  his.    And  yet  it  is  surprising  how 
little  space  is  devoted  in  the  biblical  narrative  and 
epistles  to  the  details  concerning  Paul's  privations  and 
sufferings.     If  Paul  had  been  what  some  of  his  mod- 


Paul.  23 

em  critics  have  presumed  to  pronounce  him — the  unin- 
spired leader  of  a  mere  anti-Judaising  sect — we  should 
have  had  much  more  of  his  autobiography  and  much 
less  of  his  gospel,  whether  in  the  Acts  or  in  the  Epis- 
tles. He  conceals  the  one  that  he  may  reveal  the 
other. 

4.  His  Person  and  Character,  It  is  commonly 
supposed  that  Paul  possessed  no  graces  of  person. 
He  himself  informs  us  incidentally  that  he  was  insig- 
nificant in  stature,  and  mentions  in  the  same  manner 
his  physical  infirmities.  But  he  did  possess  the  graces 
of  Jewish  and  Greek  culture.  The  specimens  of  his 
oral  addresses  which  Luke  has  preserved  for  us  do  not 
show  any  want  of  the  graces  of  the  orator.  He  never 
on  any  occasion  betrays  any  assumption  of  contempt 
for  the  proprieties  of  speech  or  personal  bearing. 
Through  all  his  ministry  he  was  a  man  of  abounding 
earnestness,  but  he  was  also  everywhere  and  under 
all  circumstances  the  Christian  gentleman.  He  neith- 
er wrote  nor  spoke  the  polished  Greek  of  the  classic 
Athens  of  former  days.  That  sort  of  Greek  was  prac- 
tically obsolete  in  his  time;  and  when  he  addressed 
the  Athenians  on  Mars  Hill  the  great  philosophers  and 
poets  were  gone  long  ago,  and  it  is  not  probable  that 
there  were  any  in  his  audience  whose  Greek  was  any 
better  than  his— though  many  may  have  thought  so. 

But  whatever  may  be  said  of  his  person  and  out- 
ward culture,  in  character  and  spirit  his  converts  might 
well  have  afforded  to  imitate  him  even  as  he  also  imi- 
tated Christ.  Life  had  no  value  for  him  apart  from 
the  privilege  and  the  daily  act  of  living  for  Christ.  He 
was  always  serious  and  yet  always  cheerful.  He  was 
always  earnest,  admitting  of  no  half  measures.    He 


24 


Introduction. 


was  always  zealous  and  yet  always  prudent.  He  was  as 
firm  as  adamant  and  yet  as  tender  as  a  nursing  moth- 
er. He  was  liberal  of  spirit,  having  nothing  in  him  of 
the  intolerant  and  narrow  bigot.  He  was  perfectly 
willing  for  the  Jewish  Christian  to  observe  his  cere- 
monial scruples,  but  he  would  fight  to  his  dying  day 
for  the  untrammeled  privilege  of  offering  an  untram- 
meled  gospel  to  the  heathen.  He  was  as  high-minded 
as  a  prince,  and  yet  he  was  ever  clothed  with  the  gar- 
ments of  humility.  He  was  always  considerate  and 
courteous  in  all  his  relations  with  others  whether  of 
high  or  low  degree.  He  was  not  perfect;  but  he  was 
a  higher  type  of  man  than  Augustine,  or  Luther,  or 
Calvin.  He  approached  more  nearly  to  the  perfect 
character  of  the  Christ  who  was  absolutely  all  to  him 
than  any  other  man  that  has  lived  on  this  earth  since 
his  day. 


Thk  Bpistlk  to  the  Romans.  25 


CHAPTER  IL 


I.  Date. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  was  written  by  Paul 
while  at  Corinth,  a  few  weeks  before  his  fifth  and  last 
visit  to  Jerusalem  since  his  conversion.  The  date  as- 
signed to  it,  by  Michaelis,  Lardner,  Macknight,  Alford, 
Conybeare,  and  scholars  generally  who  have  treated 
the  subject,  is  A.D.  58.  Compare  Rom.  xv.  25,  26 
with  Acts  XX.  1-3.  For  the  place  at  which  it  was 
written  compare  Rom.  xvi.  23  with  i  Cor.  i.  14.  The 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  was  the  fifth  which  Paul  wrote. 
All  of  his  epistles  should  be  read  in  connection  with 
and  in  the  order  of  his  history  as  given  in  the  Acts. 
So  far  as  it  can  be  ascertained  the  order  is  as  follows : 
I  Thessalonians,  A.D.  51,  or  about  seven  years  after 
he  left  Antioch  with  Barnabas  on  his  first  journey ;  2 
Thessalonians,  A.D.  53 ;  Galatians,  A.D.  55 ;  i  and  2 
Corinthians,  A.D.  57;  Romans,  A.D.  58;  Colossians, 
Philemon,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  A.D.  63,  during  his 
imprisonment  at  Rome ;  i  Timothy  and  Titus,  A.D. 
67,  from  Macedonia;  2  Timothy,  A.D.  68,  from  Rome. 
These  epistles  present  various  doctrines  and  practical 
admonitions  generally,  according  to  the  circumstan- 
ces of  the  Churches  to  which  they  were  addressed. 

II.  Authenticity. 

That  Paul  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  has  al- 
ways been  admitted  by  the  Church  and  by  all  Individ- 


26  Introduction. 


ual  critics  whether  conservative  or  radical,  ancient  or 
modern.  Even  such  critics  as  Baur,  who  rejected  the 
Pauline  authorship  of  most  of  the  epistles  ascribed  to 
Paul,  admits  that  he  wrote  the  one  to  the  Romans. 
Some  critics  have  doubted,  however,  -whether  the  last 
chapter  was  addressed  to  the  Church  at  Rome,  think- 
ing that  the  first  fifteen  chapters  may  have  been  ad- 
dressed to  the  Romans,  and  that  the  whole  epistle,  in- 
cluding the  added  sixteenth  chapter,  was  also  sent  to 
the  Kphesians.  The  objections  to  the  last  chapter  as 
a  part  of  the  original  epistle  as  sent  to  the  Christians 
at  Rome  are  by  no  means  unanswerable,  though  the 
question  is  not  one  of  sufiicient  practical  importance 
to  justify  us  in  devoting  space  to  it  here.  The  first 
quotation  made  from  the  epistle  by  any  writer  was 
the  passage,  chapter  i.  29-32,  quoted  by  Clemens 
Romanus,  A.D.  96.  Subsequently  verses  from  it  were 
cited  or  quoted  word  for  word  by  Ignatius  (A.D.  115), 
Polycarp  (A.D.  118),  and  various  other  early  Christian 
writers. 

III.  The  Church  at  Rome. 

At  the  time  when  Paul  addressed  his  epistle  to  the 
Christians  in  Rome,  Jews  had  been  there  for  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  constituted  no 
inconsiderable  element  of  its  million  and  a  half  of 
population.  Great  numbers  of  them  had  been  trans- 
ported thither  by  Pompey,  B.C.  63 ;  and  Josephus  tells 
us  that  an  embassy  sent  to  Rome  shortly  after  the 
death  of  Herod  the  Great,  were  met  my  eight  hundred 
thousand  Jewish  residents  of  the  mighty  city.  And 
at  the  time  when  Paul  was  writing  this  epistle, 
their  influence  was  so  strong,  says  Seneca,  that  "  the 
conquered  race  gave  laws  to  the  conquerors."     The 


The  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  zj 

Romans  hated  them  as  it  has  always  been  the  lot  of 
the  Jew  to  be  hated.  Tiberius  tried  in  vain  to  get  rid 
of  them ;  Claudius  sought  in  vain  to  banish  them. 

How  did  Christianity  reach  Rome  ?  Most  probably 
as  every  thing  else  reached  it ;  for  not  only  did  all  the 
roads  in  Italy  lead  thither,  but  all  the  roads  in  the 
then  known  world.  People  from  Rome  went  to  all 
quarters  of  the  earth,  and  people  from  all  quarters  of 
the  earth  went  to  Rome.  It  is  probable  that  a  Chris- 
tian element  had  been  in  the  great  city  since  the  day 
of  Pentecost  when  there  may  have  been  many  Jew 
and  Gentile  proselytes  from  Rome  at  Jerusalem  at- 
tending the  annual  feasts ;  and  converts  from  Kph- 
esus,  and  Corinth,  Philippi,  and  other  cities  of  Asia 
Minor  and  Greece  had  doubtless  gone  thither  from 
time  to  time  in  great  numbers.  In  his  letter  Paul 
presents  his  greetings  to  old  friends  by  name  whom 
he  had  know  at  Ephesus,  while  on  the  contrary  some 
well-known  ones  as  Pudens,  and  Claudia,  whose 
names  are  elsewhere  identified  (2  Tim.  iv.  21)  with  the 
Roman  Church  were  not  there  when  the  letter  was 
written.  They  were  coming  and  going,  and  Paul 
seems  to  have  kept  very  well  posted  as  to  the  move- 
ments of  those  who  were  his  aids  in  his  work.  Taci- 
tus, writing  of  the  Neronian  persecution  which  oc- 
curred about  six  years  after  Paul  wrote  this  epistle, 
tells  us  that  Christian  martyrs  (to  say  nothing  of  the 
number  not  slain)  were  a  great  multitude. 

But  it  does  not  seem  that  the  large  Christian  com- 
munity at  Rome,  thus  formed  by  accretions  from  all 
parts  of  the  Church,  possessed  at  this  time  any 
regular  organization,  though  it  is  probable  that  the 
members  met  each  other  at  frequent  assemblies  of 
some  sort,  at  which  the  epistle  was  doubtless  read 


28  Introduction. 


again  and  again.  No  allusion  is  contained  in  it  to 
elders  or  other  officers  of  an  organized  Church.  The 
Church  was  composed  of  both  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christians,  as  the  epistle  itself  indicates  in  several 
places.  But  the  great  critics  are  about  equally- 
divided  on  the  question  as  to  which  element  was  the 
majority;  it  is  useless  to  discuss  it,  for  the  data  is  in- 
adequate, and  it  can  never  be  determined  with  cer- 
tainty.   The  epistle  is  addressed  to  both. 

IV.— The  Occasion  and  Design. 

As  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  Church  at  Rome 
really  had  no  apostolic  founder;  as  it  is  also  quite 
probable  that  while  Paul  was  at  Corinth  the  Christians 
at  Rome  were  a  numerous  flock  having  no  shepherd ; 
as  it  would  be  no  infringement,  therefore,  of  the 
courtesies  of  the  apostolate,  or  the  pastoral  functions 
of  another,  for  Paul  to  write  to  them ;  and  as  a  good 
many  of  them  were  doubtless  his  own  converts  and 
personal  friends  who  had  gone  thither  from  other 
parts  of  the  empire ;  it  was  quite  natural  that  Paul 
should  desire  to  write  to  them,  especially  as  he  could 
not  for  the  present  accomplish  his  longing  to  make 
them  a  personal  visit.  Phoebe,  a  deaconess  of  the 
church  at  Cenchrea,  a  few  miles  out  from  Corinth, 
was  going  to  Rome;  and,  in  the  absence  of  regular 
postal  facilities  for  others  than  officers  of  the  empire, 
Paul  takes  advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  send  the 
Christians  at  Rome  a  letter.     Such  was  the  occasion. 

In  order  to  see,  without  going  into  details  here,  the 
design  which  Paul  had  in  view  in  writing  such  an 
epistle  as  he  did,  we  must  recall  the  fact  that  the 
great  Imperial  city  was  the  meeting  place  of  Gentiles 


Thk  EPISTI.E  TO  THE  Romans.  29 

and  Jews  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  A  letter  from 
Paul,  on  the  fundamental  question  in  issue  between 
the  Christians  and  their  opponents,  if  read  over  and 
over  again  for  months  or  years  in  the  assemblies  at 
Rome,  would  be  heard  by  more  people  than  could  in 
that  day  be  reached  by  a  single  epistle  directed  to 
any  other  city  in  the  world.  It  was  a  golden  oppor- 
tunity to  set  forth,  defend,  and  advertise  his  gospel, 
which  Paul  could  not  suffer  to  escape  him.  When  he 
writes  to  the  Thessalonians,  the  Corinthians,  Gala- 
tians,  and  others,  he  must  for  the  most  part  write 
such  letters  as  are  demanded  by  the  circumstances  of 
these  Churches  respectively.  But  to  write,  not  to  the 
organized  Church  at  Rome,  but  "  to  all  them  that  be 
at  Rome,"  was  very  much  the  same  as  writing  a 
Catholic  epistle,  a  letter  to  Christians  of  whatever 
locality ;  and  there  was  no  better  way  to  have  it  scat- 
tered over  the  whole  empire  than  to  send  it  first  to 
Rome  where  it  would  doubtless  be  copied  a  great 
many  times  by  the  Christians  who  were  constantly 
coming  and  going.  So  Paul  designs  to  write  such  an 
epistolary  treatise  as  would  meet  the  wants  of  Chris- 
tians generally,  at  that  time  and  thereafter,  and  such 
a  one  as  he  would  wish  to  have  thus  scattered 
abroad.  And  such  a  one  he  did  write.  The  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  is  addressed  to  the  Church  in  all  the 
world  and  in  all  the  ages.  The  Church  may,  as  some 
may  think,  already  have  reached  the  point  where  it 
no  longer  needs  a  special  inspired  epistle  to  advise  it 
against  the  evil  of  drinking  wine  to  excess  at  the 
Lord's-supper,  and  other  such  practices ;  but  it  never 
will  reach  that  point  in  its  progress  where  it  can 
cease  to  reiterate  with  the  utmost  emphasis  the  truth 
that  Christ,  and  Christ  alone,  is  the  power  of  God 


30  Introduction, 


unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth,  whether 
Jew  or  Gentile. 

v.— STYI.E  OF  THE  EPISTI.E. 

It  is  impossible  to  adequately  appreciate  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  either  in  its  separate  arguments  or  as 
a  whole,  apart  from  what  we  may  call  an  adequate 
valuation  of  its  style.  The  epistle  was  written,  in  the 
first  place,  in  the  Greek  language,  a  heathen  language 
put  to  the  very  usual  service  of  expressing  thought 
which  was  wholly  foreign  to  it.  It  was  not  only  put- 
ting heavenly  contents  into  an  earthen  vessel,  but 
into  an  earthen  vessel  which  was  already  filled  with 
something  more  or  less  different,  and  which  therefore 
had  to  be  displaced  to  as  great  an  extent  as  possible 
by  the  new.  And  after  the  thought  is  once  put  into 
the  Greek  vessels  by  inspired  hands  it  has  to  be 
transferred  by  human  hands  to  English  vessels  for  the 
benefit  of  ourselves.  This  of  course  may  greatly  in- 
crease whatever  original  diSiculty  there  may  have 
been  in  clearly  apprehending  the  thought. 

But  apart  from  this  infirmity  of  the  Greek,  or  any 
other  language,  when  thus  called  to  an  unusual  service, 
the  subject  itself  which  Paul  treats  is  one  to  which 
neither  the  Jewish  nor  Gentile  mind  of  that  age  was 
accustomed.  The  view  which  Paul  presents  was  a 
difficult  one  to  grasp  because  it  was  a  most  radical 
innovation  upon  the  current  doctrine  of  human  salva- 
tion—doing, though  strange  to  say,  perhaps  even 
more  violence  to  the  preconceived  views  of  his 
brother  Jews,  than  it  did  to  those  of  his  Gentile 
readers.  The  plan  of  salvation  by  grace  through 
faith  is  not  the  depraved  human  heart's  favorite  one 


The  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  31 

in  any  age,  especially  if  it  be  further  informed  that 
the  faith  is  to  be  reposed  in  him  who  was  once  known 
as  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

But  Paul  himself,  though  an  inspired  writer,  was  an 
earthen  vessel.  Or,  to  change  the  figure:  When  the 
light  from  the  sun  has  passed  through  the  lens,  it  is 
still  the  pure  light  of  the  sun  ;  but  it  has  not  the  same 
color  on  this  side  of  the  lens  as  it  had  on  the  other. 
There  it  was  immaculate  white,  here  it  is  blue,  or 
green,  or  orange.  Nor  is  it  so  easy  to  see  with  the 
lens  as  it  would  be  to  see  without  it;  but  refracted 
light  is  the  best  we  can  have  in  this  world.  Truth 
clothed  in  the  colors  of  the  rainbow ;  after  a  while  we 
may  see  it  in  unsullied  white.  Paul,  Peter,  John,  and 
the  rest,  are  for  the  present  our  lenses,  for  through 
them  the  Sun's  light  comes  to  us. 

Dwelling  for  a  moment  on  such  considerations  as 
these,  we  may  easily  see  that  it  was  quite  natural 
even  for  Peter  to  say  that  there  are  some  things  "  in 
brother  Paul  hard  to  be  understood."  And  the  very 
fact  that  Paul  could  be  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the 
medium  for  conveying  such  truths  is  of  itself  a  proof 
that  he  was  in  point  of  intellect  beyond  the  average 
even  of  the  inspired  writers. 

One  of  the  necessities,  therefore,  under  which  one 
or  more  of  these  various  disadvantages,  under  which 
Paul  wrote,  place  him,  was  the  necessity  of  employing 
many  figures  of  speech,  or  the  same  figure  many 
times.  These  figures  abound  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans;  and  one  of  the  great  temptations  under 
which  he  unconsciously  labors  who  pauses  in  his 
reading  to  seek  after  the  apostle's  meaning,  is  to  exact 
too  much  of  the  figure,  or,  to  make  it  illustrate  four 
things  when  it  was  only  intended  to  illustrate  one. 


32  Introduction. 


Figures  are  indispensable,  and  yet  hardly  any  thing 
may  be  more  easily  abused,  whether  by  being  ignored 
or  by  being  perverted.  Take  as  one  illustration  the 
word  "  law,"  which  occurs  so  often  in  this  epistle. 
What  is  Paul's  doctrine  concerning  the  law  {no^nos)  ? 
This  is  a  fundamental  question,  and  the  answer  must 
be  obtained  chiefly  from  this  epistle  and  that  to  the 
Galatians.  But  it  can  not  be  done  unless  we  observe 
the  figures  in  connection  with  which  it  occurs  and 
the  various  senses  in  which  it  has  been  necessary 
to  use  it.  At  one  time  he  calls  the  law  a  slave 
whose  duty  it  is  to  lead  us  to  Christ,  as  the  Greek 
slave  was  required  to  conduct  the  children  safely  to 
school.  At  another  time  he  speaks  of  the  law  as  our 
Master  who  lords  it  over  us  in  no  gentle  manner. 
Again,  he  speaks  of  the  law  as  being  holy,  righteous, 
and  good.  And  of  the  law  of  sin ;  and  he  says  that 
we  are  free  from  the  law ;  and  that  we  are  not  free,  but 
still  under  obligation  to  obey  it,  and  again,  that  the 
law  is  a  kind  of  weapon  with  which  sin  slays  us  ;  and 
so,  a  great  many  figures,  affirmations,  denials,  etc.,  all 
concerning  law  and  all  in  the  same  epistle.  They  are 
not  contradictory ;  but  if  the  casual  reader — and  most 
readers  of  the  epistle  are  only  too  casual — did  not 
forget  one  statement  before  he  has  reached  the  next, 
they  might  seem  to  be  contradictory.  As  Paul  speaks 
of  law  in  several  senses,  or  of  the  same  law  from 
several  points  of  view,  so  also  does  he  in  the  same  man- 
ner speak  of  some  other  things ;  and  it  is  quite  neces- 
sary to  be  mindful  of  this  when  we  would  know  his 
meaning  in  this  place  or  that. 

But  such  mild  personifications,  metaphors,  and  the 
use  of  the  same  word  in  different  senses,  are  not  the 
only  figures  which  we  find  in  this  epistle.     He  speaks 


The  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  33 

of  invisible  things  as  being  seen — a  form  of  speech 
which  the  rhetoricians  call  oxymoron;  and  also  of 
Abraham's  hoping  though  he  had  no  hope  (iv.  18)  ; 
when  I  am  weak  then  I  am  strong.  Nor  should  one 
fail  to  notice  the  frequent  antithises  which  charac- 
terize the  epistle,  between  such  words  as  "  flesh"  and 
"spirit,!'  "law,"  or  ''works  of  the  law,"  and  "faith," 
"  bondage  "  and  "  freedom,"  "  bondmen  "  and  "  free- 
men," "foolishness"  and  "wisdom,"  etc.  In  chapter 
X.  13-15,  Paul  employs  what  the  logicians  call  a 
regular  sorites,  and  in  various  other  passages  logical 
arguments  in  the  strictly  technical  sense. 

In  chapter  vii.  i ,  and  following  verses,  his  argument 
is  from  analogy ;  in  chapter  vii.  9-25,  from  personal 
experience,  while  in  various  parts  of  the  epistle  he 
draws  his  arguments  from  the  Old  Testament  Script- 
ures, using  for  this  purpose  the  Greek  version  which 
was  the  one  most  accessible  to  his  Gentile  readers. 
His  citations,  however,  are  not  made  invariably  for 
logical  or  argumentative  purposes,  but  here  and  there 
for  what  we  may  call  purposes  of  rhetoric.  His  style 
is  adorned  with  expressions  and  fragments  of  expres- 
sions from  the  Old  Testament,  just  as  any  writer's 
style  may  be  most  influenced  by  the  book  which  he 
reads  most.  Thus  is  to  be  explained  his  apparently 
free  and  illogical  use  of  passages  from  the  Scriptures, 
and  particularly  his  so-called  rabbinical  allegorizing, 
of  which  the  well-known  passage.  Gal.  iv.  22-31,  is 
said  by  some  to  be  an  instance.  Paul  did  not  mean 
to  be  understood  as  using  the  story  of  Sarah  and 
Hagar  as  an  argument  in  the  strict  sense,  but  simply 
as  a  familiar  concrete  or  illustrative  way  of  stating  a 
truth  which  he  should  otherwise  have  had  to  state  in 
unadorned  abstract  terms. 
3 


34  Introduction. 


It  may  be  truly  said  of  the  style  of  this  epistle,  as 
of  all  Paul's  epistles,  that  it  is  in  harmony  with  the 
character  and  temperament  of  the  author,  with  whom 
we  have  already  become  acquainted  in  the  Acts.  It 
is  just  such  an  epistle  as  we  would  expect  Paul  to 
write.  It  is  characterized  by  the  inward  disposition, 
the  abundant  heart,  the  moral  earnestness,  of  this 
^reat  apostle.  Its  argumentative  character  and  its 
warmth  and  rush  of  thought  are  eminently  Pauline. 
And  to  these  traits  are  due,  for  the  most  part,  the  di- 
gressions, parentheses,  and  what  the  grammarians  call 
anacalutha,  so  frequent  in  his  writings.  We  shall  have 
occasion  to  notice  these  in  the  course  of  the  commen- 
tary, meanwhile  it  is  necessary  only  to  ask  the  reader 
of  the  epistle  to  remember  that  as  originally  written 
it  contained  none  of  the  helps  to  its  understanding 
such  as  are  employed  by  modern  writers  of  treatises. 
It  had  no  title  page ;  no  section  headings ;  no  indicated 
divisions  of  any  sort ;  no  intimations  to  the  reader  as 
to  where  the  line  of  thought  changes,  or  as  to  where  a 
new  phase  of  the  subject  is  taken  up.  Such  helpful 
acts  of  the  book-makers  were  not  employed  by  the 
book-makers  of  Paul's  day.  The  reader  was  left  to  do 
his  own  analyzing,  to  detect  the  argument,  the  transi- 
tions of  thought,  and  the  aim  of  the  whole,  without 
the  aid  of  previous  notice,  or  "table  of  contents," 
furnished  by  the  writer.  As  for  our  chapter  and 
verse  divisions  of  the  epistle,  Paul  is  not  responsible 
for  them,  of  course.  They  are  helpful  chiefly  for 
purposes  of  convenient  reference ;  but  if  one  would 
understand  the  epistle  as  thoroughly  as  possible  he 
should  often  read  it  at  one  sitting  and  without  any 
notice  whatever  of  the  chapter  and  verse  divisions. 


The  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  35 


VI. — Leading  Thoughts,  Words,  Texts. 

1.  The  subject  of  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  epistle 
is,  "  The  Way  of  Human  Salvation."  But  the  discus- 
sion of  this  subject  is  introduced  by  an  elaborate 
statement  of  the  universal  sinfulness  and  guilt  of 
both  Jew  and  Gentile.  The  epistle  is,  therefore,  an- 
thropological in  the  first  place  in  order  that  it  may  be 
the  more  powerfully  sotereological.  If  a  universal 
guilt  is  not  admitted  there  can  be  no  need  to  prove 
that  a  universal  salvation  is  provided.  The  four 
main  thoughts  of  this  part  of  the  epistle  may,  there- 
fore, be  briefly  stated  as  follows : 

(i)  All  men  are  guilty  before  God.  (Chapter  iii. 
page  19.) 

(2)  All,  therefore,  need  a  Savior.  If  the  Jews  who 
have  the  law  are  in  the  same  condition  before  God  as 
the  Gentiles,  it  would  seem  evident  that,  whatever 
else  the  law  may  do,  it  can  not  serve  as  a  Savior. 
Therefore 

(3)  Christ  died  for  all,  thus  providing  salvation  for 
all.     Therefore,  again 

(4)  All  Christians  are  one  body  in  him,  there  being 
no  distinction  in  him  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  etc. 

2.  Some  of  the  leading  words  in  the  epistle  are 
(i)  Sin;  in  its  more  general  sense  represented  by 
kamartia,  in  its  more  specific  forms  represented  by 
various  words. 

(2)  Righteousness y  justification ;  represented  by  the 
same  word  in  the  Greek,  with  varying  shades  of 
meaning  necessary  to  be  noticed  in  reading  the  epistle 
whether  in  the  Greek  or  English.  Sometimes  the 
gospel  plan  of  salvation,  as  distinguished  from  salva- 


2)6  Introduction. 


tion  by  works,  is  called  God's  righteousness,  or  rather 
a  manifestation  of  God's  inherent  righteousness  to  us. 
Sometimes  it  is  called  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
because  it  was  manifested  in  Christ.  To  say  then 
that  we  are  saved  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  is 
not  to  say  that  we  are  saved  independently  of  a  sub- 
jective change  ;  it  is  to  say  simply  that  we  are  saved 
by  the  gospel  plan  and  not  by  our  special  works  or 
"  deeds  of  the  law."  The  subjective  state  into  which 
our  personal  appropriation  of  this  righteousness  of 
Christ — or,  in  other  words,  our  personal  appropriation 
of  the  salvation  provided  through  Christ — is  called 
justification.  The  act  of  God  in  admitting  us  to  terms 
of  harmony  with  him  because  of  our  acceptance  of 
the  provided  salvation  is  also  called  justification; 
it  is  justification  as  a  divine  act,  as  distinguished 
from  justification  as  a  human  state.  In  this  last 
sense  justification  is  the  same  as  rigkt7iess — the  state 
otherwise  called  regeneration,  a  term  which  Paul 
does  not  use,  though  the  thing  meant  is  not  to  be 
regarded  as  absent  from  his  teaching. 

(3)  Imputing  or  recko7iing.  By  this  Paul  does  not 
mean  that  God's  righteousness  or  Christ-righteousness 
as  above  defined,  or  indeed  in  any  sense,  is  imputed  to 
us  in  the  sense  that  we  are  really  not  righteous 
but  that  God  only  makes  believe  that  we  are.  He 
simply  means  that  God  chooses  to  regard  our  accept- 
ance of  the  offered  salvation  through  Christ  as  per- 
fectly satisfactory  to  him ;  and  that  we  are  in  this  case 
just  as  well-pleasing  to  him  as  if  we  had  never  been 
either  sinful  or  sinners.  Nor  does  Paul  mean  that 
God  imputes  Adam's  sin  to  us  whereas  we  are  not 
guilty  of  Adam's  specific  sin.  He  simply  means  that 
God  reckons  or  regards  all  men,  both  Jews  and  Gen- 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         2>7 

tiles,  as  guilty  because  they  really  are  guilty,  not  of 
Adam's  sin  but  because  of  Adam's  sin.  It  would  have 
been  the  greatest  of  misfortunes  to  some  men  if  God 
had  not  imputed  guilt  to  these  "some  men,"  or  in 
other  words,  if  he  had  not  thought  of  them  as  being 
guilty;  for  if  he  had  not  thought  of  them  as  being 
guilty  he  could  not  have  thought  of  them  as  needing 
a  Savior.  This  word  "impute"  occurs  in  one  or 
more  forms  ten  times  in  the  fourth  chapter  alone. 

(4)  Faith.  This  also  is  pre-eminently  a  Pauline 
word.  As  a  noun  and  verb  it  occurs  about  fifty  times 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  Paul  is  eminently  the 
Apostle  of  Faith  as  contrasted  with  John  the  Apostle 
of  Love,  or  Peter  the  Apostle  of  Hope,  or  James  the 
Apostle  of  Works.  It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to 
suppose  that  any  one  of  these  undervalues  the  teach- 
ings of  the  others.  They  present  different  phases  of 
the  gospel.  The  word  faith  is  used  in  various  senses, 
the  right  understanding  of  which  is  essential  to  the 
right  understanding  of  Paul.  Sometimes  it  denotes 
(a)  a  mere  act  of  the  mind,  as  first,  a  simple  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  truth  of  any  thing  irrespective 
of  any  allusion  to  evidence,  or  second,  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  truth  as  based  on  evidence ;  or  third, 
an  act  of  self-surrender  to  Christ  and  of  appropriation 
of  him  as  our  Savior.  Sometimes  it  denotes  {b)  a 
state  or  condition,  as  first,  trust,  confidence,  repose  in 
Christ,  or  second,  fellowship  and  union  with  Christ. 
Sometimes  it  is  used  {c)  as  antithetical  to  works  in 
the  technical  sense — that  is,  the  ceremonial  works  in 
particular  as  practiced  by  the  Jews  of  Paul's  day.  Or 
{d)  as  including  works,  not  ceremonial,  but  works  as 
including  the  whole  sphere  of  the  Christian  life  and 
activity ;  as  the  stream  may  be  regarded  as  a  part  of 


38  Introduction. 


the  fountain  from  which  it  flows.  Sometimes  it  is 
used  also  to  denote  the  gospel  plan  of  salvation,  as 
when  the  adherents  of  "  the  faith  "  are  spoken  of. 

(5)  Law  Nomos ;  a  word  already  referred  to  on 
page  32,  and  which  will  be  noticed  further  in  the  com- 
mentary on  passages  in  which  it  occurs. 

(6)  Flesh  ;  in  a  figurative  sense,  not  the  body.  The 
words  flesh  and  fleshly  or  carnal  stand  in  antithesis  to 
spirit  and  spiritual;  but  when  the  word  "spiritual" 
stands  thus  in  contrast  with  the  word  "  carnal,"  or 
fleshly,  it  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  word 
"  spiritual "  in  contrast  with  the  word  "  material ;  "  as, 
a  "spiritual  nature,"  a  "carnal  nature,"  or,  a  "spir- 
itual body,"  a  "  material  body." 

(7)  For,  the  preposition ;  represented  in  the  New 
Testament  by  several  Greek  words  as  peri,  huper,  dia, 
anti,  etc.  Christ  "suffered  for  us,"  died  "for  us," 
"  for  our  sins,  "  for  the  ungodly,"  the  just  for  the  un- 
just; in  behalf  of  us,  on  account  of  our  sins,  in 
another's  place,  in  the  interest  of  another,  etc.  The 
word  used  here  or  there  is  determined  by  the  aspect 
of  the  subject  presented,  or  the  person  or  thing 
spoken  of.  Paul  uses  huper  in  Romans.  Preposi- 
tions and  conjunctions,  are  small  words,  but  they  are 
important  ones  and  often  require  the  greatest  care 
and  attention. 

(8)  All.  Salvation  offered  to  all,  because  all  need 
salvation. 

3.  Leading  texts.  Chapter  iii.  9 ;  all  under  sin,  iii. 
20;  through  the  law  comes  the  knowledge  of  sin,, 
iii.  28 ;  justification  by  faith  apart  from  the  works  of 
the  law,  v.  i ;  being  justified  by  faith,  etc.,  v.  12  and 
18;  wherefore,  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 


The  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  39 

world,  and  death  by  sin ;  and  so  death  passed  upon 
all  men,  for  that  all  sinned  ....  even  so  by  the 
righteousness  of  one  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men 
unto  justification  of  life,  v.  20,  21 ;  grace  abounding 
more  exceedingly  than  sin,  vi.  11 ;  dead  unto  sin,  alive 
unto  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  viii. ;  no  condemnation  to 
them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  viii.  28 ;  all  things  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  viii.  29,  30; 
foreknowledge,  foreordination,  calling,  justification, 
glorification,  viii.  31 ;  if  God  be  for  us  who  is  against 
us?  xi.  25;  Israel's  partial  hardening,  etc.,  xi.  32  ;  all 
regarded  as  disobedient,  that  mercy  might  be  offered 
to  all,  xi.  36 ;  of  him,  through  him,  unto  him,  are  all 
things,  xii.  i ;  our  bodies  to  be  presented  to  God  a 
living  sacrifice,  etc. 


VII.  Testimonies  Concerning  the  Kpisti^e. 

It  stands  at  the  head  of  the  Pauline  epistles,  not 
merely  in  length,  but  especially  as  a  comprehensive, 
systematic,  and  profound  discussion  of  the  plan  of  hu- 
man salvation.  The  following  are  the  judgments  of 
some  of  the  greatest  biblical  scholars  of  the  ages  in  re- 
gard to  this  epistle : 

"  It  is  the  grandest,  the  boldest,  and  in  all  its  depths 
and  heights  the  most  complete  composition  of  the 
greatest  apostle." — Meyer. 

"  It  is  the  most  remarkable  production  of  the  most 
remarkable  man It  is  the  heart  of  the  doc- 
trinal portion  of  the  New  Testament.  It  presents  in 
systematic  order  the  fundamental  truths  of  Christian- 
ity in  their  primitive  purity,  inexhaustible  depth,  all- 
conquering  force,  and  never-failing  comfort.     It  is  the 


40  Introduction. 


bulwark  of   the    evangelical    doctrines   of   sin   and 
grace. ' ' — Schaff. 

"  It  is  the  cathedral  of  the  Christian  faith. 
The  true  understanding  of  this  masterpiece  of  the 
apostolic  mind  is  reserved  for  those  who  approach  it 
with  the  heart  described  by  Jesus  in  his  Sermon  on 
the  Mount — the  heart  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness.  For  what  is  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  ? 
The  offer  of  the  righteousness  of  God  to  the  man  who 
finds  himself  stripped  by  the  law  of  his  own  righteous- 
ness (i.  17).  To  understand  such  a  book  we  must  yield 
ourselves  to  the  current  of  the  intention  under  which 
it  was  dictated." — Godet. 

"  It  is  the  chief  part  of  the  New  Testament  and  the 
purest  gospel,  well  worthy  to  be  committed  to  memory 
word  for  word  by  every  Christian  man,  and  to  be  pon- 
dered daily  and  employed  as  the  daily  bread  of  the 
soul.  It  can  never  be  too  often  nor  too  well  read  and 
considered,  and  the  more  it  is  understood  the  better  it 
tastes." — Luther. 

"  It  is  the  most  profound  work  in  existence." — Cole- 


"Throughout  the  discussion,  constant  reference  is 
made  to  law  and  justice;  and  this  is  characteristic  of 
the  epistle Rome  was  the  city  of  impe- 
rial law,  and  the  great  seat  of  jurisprudence  and  gov- 
ernment. It  was  therefore  fitting  that  to  Jews  and 
Gentiles  residing  there  should  be  addressed  this  dem- 
onstration of  the  position  of  mankind,  as  trangressors 
condemned  by  divine  law  and  justice,  and  unable  by 
deeds  to  justify  themselves.  The  world  centered  at 
ancient  Rome ;  and  in  a  letter  sent  to  Rome  was  the 
whole  world  proved  and  pronounced  to  have  been 
guilty  before  God The   question   which 


The  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  41 

presses  is  that  of  justification,  and  no  one  can  inter- 
pret the  epistle  who  does  not  keep  this  before  his 
mind." — Eraser. 

Canon  Farrar  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
phrase  "  in  Christ "  occurs  thirty-three  times  in  this 
epistle,  and  the  phrase  "justification  by  faith"  only 
three  or  four  times,  and  thinks  the  former  much  bet- 
ter expresses  the  essence  of  Paul's  evangelical  theolo- 
gy than  the  latter. 

"A  grand  summary  of  the  doctrine  and  practice  of 
Christianity. " — Cony  bear  e. 

"  It  must  not,  however,  be  considered  that  the  whole 
of  the  Christian  faith,  or  even  of  the  Pauline  concep- 
tion of  Christianity,  is  developed  in  this  epistle.  This 
is  only  treated  as  it  bears  on  the  relation  of  God  to 
man — the  fall  of  man  and  his  redemption  through 
Christ." — Gloag. 

Other  topics,  as  the  nature  of  God,  the  person  and 
dignity  of  Christ,  the  Church,  etc.,  are  discussed  in 
other  epistles. 

The  ancient  Chrysostom  was  accustomed  to  have  this 
epistle  read  through  to  him  twice  every  week.  '  Me- 
lanchthon  copied  it  twice  with  his  own  hand  word  for 
word  in  order  that  he  might  the  more  thoroughly  im- 
bibe its  spirit  and  teaching.  Dr.  James  Morrison  says, 
in  speaking  of  his  own  experience,  that  going  from 
the  din,  and  strife,  and  worry  of  the  outer  world  to  the 
study  of  Paul  is  like  entering  a  spiritual  university— 
a  home  for  the  heart— Paul  is  both  inspired  and 
inspiring. 

"  O  Christianity,  had  thy  one  work  been  to  produce 
a  St.  Paul,  that  alone  should  have  rendered  thee  dear 
to  the  coldest  reason." — Sailer.  And  Godet,  in  quot- 
ing these  words,  adds :     ''And  thou,  O  St.  Paul,  had 


42  Introduction. 


thy  one  work  been  to  compose  an  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, that  alone  should  have  rendered  thee  dear  ta 
every  sound  reason." 

''Quid  est  enim  Paulo  rarius.    What  is  rarer  than 
Paul?  " — Melanchthon. 


Thk  Teachings  t)F  the  Epistle.         43 


CHAPTER   III. 


The  Epistle  is  readily  divided  into  two  parts,  the 
Doctrinal,  chapters  i.-xi.,  and  the  Practical,  chapters 
xii.-xvi.  The  doctrinal  portion,  however,  is  preceded 
by  the  Salutation  and  Introduction,  verses  1-15. 
Before  proceeding  with  our  sketch  of  the  teachings 
of  the  epistle,  it  may  be  well  to  present  the  analysis 
somewhat  more  in  detail. 

I.  The  Line  of  Thought. 

I. 

Superscription,  vs.  1-7. 

Paul,  ....  To  all  that  be  in  Rome,  ....  Grace 
to  you  and  peace  from  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

II. 
Introduction,  vs.  8-15. 

1.  He  thanks  God  for  the  faith  of  the  Roman 
Christians. 

2.  Expresses  to  them  his  earnest  desire  to  make 
them  a  personal  visit. 

III. 
The  Fundamentai,  Theme,  vs.  16,  17. 

The  gospel,  that  is  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  in  Christ,  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles. 


44  Introduction. 


IV. 

The  Argument, 

Or  the  fundamental  theme  unfolded  and  proved  (ch. 
i.  i8;  xi.). 

I.  First  Proposition. 

The  universal  need  of  salvation,  or  righteousness, 
ch.  i.  i8;  iii.  20.  (i)  In  the  case  of  the  Gentiles; 
(2)  in  the  case  of  the  Jews,  who  were  no  less  guilty, 
and  under  condemnation,  notwithstanding  their 
greater  light  and  theocratic  privileges. 

2.  Second  Proposition. 

The  universal  offer  of  this  salvation,  or  righteous- 
ness, on  condition  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  by  whose 
atoning  work  it  became  possible  for  God  to  make  the 
offer  (ch.  iii.  21;  v.  11). 

3.  Third  Proposition. 

Adam  and  Christ.  To  the  one  is  to  be  traced  our 
condemnation  and  death ;  to  the  other  is  to  be  ascribed 
our  justification  and  life  (v.  12-21). 

At  this  point  in  his  argument  Paul  anticipates  cer- 
tain objections  which  might  be  made  against  his  doc- 
trine as  thus  far  set  forth. 

4.  First  Objection. 

Paul's  doctrine  seems  to  promote  sin ;  it  furnishes 
no  ground  for  holiness  of  life.  It  would  seem  that 
we  might  rather  continue  in  sin  that  this  free  grace 
might  abound  (vi.  i). 

5.  Answer. 

Sin  destroyed ;  justification  by  grace  through  faith 
promotes  holiness  of  life  (vi.  2-14). 


Thk  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         45 

6.   Second  Objection. 

Is  not  the  law  discredited  ?  If  we  are  free  from  the 
law  and  under  grace,  may  we  not  sin  as  much  as  it 
may  please  us  ?  (vi.  15.) 

7.  Answer. 

The  objection  shown  to  be  based  upon  an  erroneous 
apprehension  of  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said  that  by 
grace  we  are  freed  from  the  law  (vi.  16-23).  Paul,  in 
continuation  of  his  answer  to  the  objections,  sets 
forth  at  some  length  the  true  spiritual  function  of  the 
law  (vii.  1-25).  He  concludes  by  re-affirming  that 
Christ,  and  not  the  law,  is  both  our  justification  and 
our  sanctification — that  is,  it  is  He  who  frees  us  from 
the  condemnation  of  the  law  and  enables  us  to  live 
holy  lives  (viii.). 

8.  Third  Objection. 

What  about  the  Israelites  ?  Are  they  not  the  elect, 
covenant  people  ?  And  does  not  this  doctrine  which 
makes  salvation,  whether  of  them  or  of  the  Gentiles, 
a  matter  of  grace,  attribute  unfaithfulness  to  God,  by 
making  void  his  ancient  covenant  promise  ? 

9.  Answer. 

This  objection,  which,  in  the  estimation  of  the  Jew, 
was  certainl}^  a  very  formidable  one,  Paul,  who  affirms 
himself  to  be  a  true  and  faithful  Jew,  answers  at 
length  in  chapters  ix.,  x.,  xi.,  and  concludes  by  exult- 
ingly  declaring  that  this  divine  treatment  of  Jew  and 
Gentile,  instead  of  being  a  proof  of  unfairness  and 
unfaithfulness  on  the  part  of  God,  is  really  an  exhibi- 
tion of  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God. 

This  concludes  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  epistle. 


46  Introduction. 


V. 

Practicai,. 

The  practical  holiness,  or  right  living,  which  has  its 
root  in  the  doctrine  of  salvation  as  set  forth  in  the 
preceding  chapters,  "  I  beseech  you  therefore''  (xii.  i). 

I.  Co7isecration  of  the  Whole  Life. 

This  consecration  is  the  necessary  starting  point  of 
the  new  life,  and  based  on  a  true  and  healthy  view  of 
ourselves  and  of  our  position,  and  should  mdnifest 
itself  in  the  Christian's  relation  both  to  the  Church 
and  to  the  world  (ch.  xii.). 

2.   The  Christian  and  the  State  {xiii.), 
3.  Concerning  Things  Indifferent  {xiv-xv.  7). 
4.  Paul  Again  Adverts,  but  in  Less  Argumentative  Tone,  to 
the  Oneness  of  Attitude  of  Jew  and  Gentile  to  the  Com- 
man  Gospel  {xv.  8-33). 

5.  Personal  Messages  (xvi.). 

A  description  more  in  detail  of  Paul's  doctrinal  and 
ethical  teachings  as  set  forth  in  this  epistle,  and  as 
understood  by  the  present  writer,  is  presented  in  the 
two  following  sections.  The  doctrinal  portion  is  the 
more  difficult ;  but  if  we  will  study  it  carefully,  and 
with  constant  reference  to  its  fundamental  theme,  as 
above  stated,  and  in  constant  recognition  of  our 
dependence  upon  the  enlightening  help  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  we  shall,  doubtless,  not  err  in  our  apprehension 
of  its  main  thoughts  and  of  their  relation  one  to 
another.  It  was  not  intended  that  the  epistle  should 
be  an  enigma  to  us,  nor  was  it  intended  that  it  should 
be  regarded  as  a  scrappy  letter.  It  is  a  profound 
epistle  because  it  deals  with  its  subject  in  a  manner 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         47 

with  which  the  human  mind  in  Paul's  day  was  an 
titter  stranger ;  one  to  which  the  heathen  mind,  what- 
ever other  views  it  may  have  about  salvation,  is  still 
a  stranger ;  one  which  the  human  heart  in  its  natural 
condition,  however  much  it  may  be  enlightened  in 
other  respects,  is  loath  to  accept ;  and  one  which  even 
the  Church,  in  some  of  its  branches  especially,  has 
not  invariably  seen  with  such  clearness  of  vision  as  to 
duly  emphasize  its  fundamental  teaching.  Luther 
was  in  a  certain  true  sense  the  second  Paul  who  wrote 
the  epistle  to  "the  Romans;"  and  to  this  day  all 
Christians  do  by  no  means  agree  as  to  the  exact  place 
occupied  by  what  they  all  call  "  works,"  in  the  plan 
of  human  salvation. 

II. — Paul's    Doctrine    of  Salvation. 

Only  he  who  recognizes  himself  as  sick,  as  a  cap- 
tive, or  as  lost,  can  recognize  his  need  of  a  physician, 
a  deliverer,  or  of  one  who  can  conduct  him  to  the 
desired  way.  Only  he  who  has  truly  descended  to 
the  recognition  of  himself  as  a  guilty  and  condemned 
sinner,  can  ascend  to  the  recognition  of  Christ  as  the 
only  Savior.  The  true  doctrine  concerning  salvation 
is  based,  therefore,  on  the  true  doctrine  concerning 
man  as  a  sinner ;  or,  as  the  theologians  might  say,  the 
Pauline  soteriology  rests  on  the  preceding  Pauline 
anthropology.  And  this,  of  course,  is  the  natural  and 
logical  order. 

I.  Paul  begins  his  discussion  with  an  explicit  an- 
nouncement of  his  own  doctrine  of  salvation  in  the 
fewest  words  (chapter  i.  16,  17).  Underlying  this, 
however,  is  the  assumption  which  none  of  his  readers 
would  deny,  that  the  question  of  questions  with  every 


48  Introduction. 


rational  human  being  is,  How  shall  man  be  just  be- 
fore God?  Or,  in  other  words.  How  shall  man  be 
placed  in  a  state  of  harmony  with  God  ?  The  ques- 
tion admitted  of  three  answers  : 

First.  By  glorifying  God  as  God ;  worshiping  him 
and  not  the  creature;  living  in  harmony  with  the 
truth  in  so  far  as  revealed  in  nature  and  the  human 
heart. 

This  was  the  answer  which  the  Gentile,  or  non- 
Jewish  people,  might  have  given  to  the  question. 
Paul  makes  no  objection  to  it.  On  the  contrary  he 
tacitly  admits  the  correctness  in  the  abstract  of  this 
theory  of  salvation,  and  severely  arraigns  the  Gentiles 
because  they  did  not  live  in  harmony  with  it.  He 
draws  a  truthful  and  dark  picture  of  the  current  Gen- 
tile life,  showing  that  it  was  the  farthest  possible 
remove  from  the  requirement  of  the  theory.  They 
had  the  knowledge  of  God  to  begin  with,  but  they  did 
not  retain  it;  they  grossly  perverted  it.  Instead  of 
worshiping  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  they  worshiped 
him  in  the  form  of  idols  and  images  of  corruptible 
things ;  and  so  on  through  the  fearful  list  of  specifi- 
cations in  chapter  i.  24-32.  This  picture  was  true,  is 
true,  and  has  ever  been  true,  of  the  heathen  life  as  a 
whole,  however  many  individual  exceptions  there 
may  have  been  to  it.  The  trouble  with  this  theory  is, 
not  that  it  is  false  in  itself,  for  Paul  himself  expressly 
affirms  in  this  immediate  connection  (ii.  6-10)  that 
God  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds ; 
on  the  one  hand,  to  those  who  by  patient  continuance, 
etc.,  eternal  life ;  and  on  the  other  to  those  who  live 
unrighteous  lives,  indignation  and  wrath  ;  but  the  fault 
of  this  first  answer  is,  it  is  not  practicable;  as  a 
theory  of  salvation  the  facts  show  that  in  its  relation 


The  Teachings  ok  the  Epistle.         49 


to  the  vast  heathen  or  Gentile  mass  of  mankind  it 
does  not  work  well.  The  world  lies  in  darkness  and 
sin. 

Second.  The  Jew's  answer.  The  fact  that  we  have 
been  called  by  God's  own  sovereign  choice,  as  the 
seed  of  Abraham  through  Isaac,  into  covenant  relation 
with  him,  and  the  implied  observance  on  our  part  of 
the  covenant  law,  is  itself  the  pledge  of  our  harmony 
with  God,  or,  in  other  words,  of  our  salvation.  And 
the  only  way  for  the  Gentile  to  have  a  like  salvation 
is  for  him  to  become  a  Jew  through  the  prescribed 
formulas  of  proselytism. 

The  objection  to  this  answer  lay  not  in  the  answer 
itself,  but  in  the  Jew's  misapprehehsion  of  its  true 
meaning ;  as  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  while  the  Jew 
may  have  observed  the  letter  of  the  formal  law  ever 
so  strictly,  he  nevertheless  did  those  things  which  are 
charged  against  the  Gentiles  and,  more  than  that,  had 
pleasure  in  others  who  did  them.  This,  of  itself,  was 
sufficient  evidence  that  the  Jew  was  not  in  harmony 
with  God,  or,  in  other  words,  had  not  attained  to  sal- 
vation ;  for  no  Jew  who  had  rightly  read  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, and  who  therefore  had  a  conscience  not  dead 
to  moral  distinctions,  would  suppose  for  a  moment 
that  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  could  look  with 
approbation  on  the  doers  of  such  things  as  they  did. 
Hence,  the  Jews  also  must  be  regarded  as  under  con- 
demnation, and  the  theor}^  of  salvation  as  interpreted 
by  them  must  be  regarded  as  a  failure. 

Third.  Paul's  answer.  Harmony  with  God,  or  right- 
eousness, or  justification,  or  salvation,  as  it  may  be 
variously  called,  is  a  gift  of  grace  offered  alike  to  all 
men,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  and  which  may  become 
the  personal  possession  of  any  man,  simply  by  an  act 
4 


txO  Introduction. 


of  cordial  appropriation  of  it,  which  act  is  called  faith 
in  its  narrowest  sense,  and  its  ultimate  ground  and  ob- 
ject, of  course,  is  Christ.  This  is  elsewhere  called 
"the  new  and  living  way"  to  be  saved.  Not  because 
it  had  not  in  a  certain  sense  always  been  the  onl}-  way ; 
not  because  it  was  essentially  and  totally  different  from 
the  way  furnished  through  that  inner  law  which  Paul 
says  the  Gentiles  were  unto  themselves;  not  that  it 
was  essentially  different  from  the  way  or  mode  of  sal- 
vation that  was  in  operation  in  the  case  of  Abraham 
and  all  the  Old  Testament  peoples,  and  which  the  Jews 
of  Paul's  time  grossly  misapprehended  and  perverted; 
but  new  because  it  was  the  revival  of  an  obsolete  doc- 
trine, and  living  because  it  secured  life.  Paul  sets 
forth  the  fundamental  relation  of  Christ  to  this  salva- 
tion in  chapter  iii.  24,  26.  He  is  a  ''propitiation ;'' 
that  is  to  say,  He  it  was  who  rendered  it  morally  pos- 
sible for  God — no^  to  be  propitious  toward  us — but  to 
manifest  his  propitiousness  toward  us  by  offering  us 
pardon,  or  the  removal  of  the  sentence  of  condemna- 
tion. This  "  propitiatory  "  act  of  Christ,  however,  was 
one  that  lay  wholly  between  him  and  God  the  Father ; 
for,  as  we  said,  its  intended  effect  was  to  render  it  mor- 
ally possible — not  for  God  to  be  propitious,  for  he  was 
always  and  intrinsically  propitious,  but  to  manifest  his 
propitiousness  in  our  pardon  or  justification,  and  so 
far  as  this  intended  effect  of  what  Christ  did  is  con- 
cerned, it  would  have  been  accomplished,  whether  any 
man  had  ever  possessed  the  least  knowledge  of  the 
historic  Christ  or  not.  Paul  does  not  say  this  in  the 
passage  above  referred  to,  nor  indeed  in  so  many 
words  elsewhere;  but  he  implies  it,  as  appears  from 
his  atti^tude  toward  what  we  called  above  the  first  an- 
swer to  the  question,  How  shall  man  be  justified  or 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         51 

saved  ?  In  order  that  Christ  might  render  it  possible 
for  God  to  manifest  his  propitiousness,  or  pardoning 
grace,  toward  the  Gentiles,  it  was  not  necessary  for  the 
Gentiles  to  know  that  he  had  done  it,  for  it  was  already 
done  before  the  fact  was  ever  announced  to  the  world  ; 
and  all  that  was  now  necessary  in  order  that  this  pos- 
sible propitiousness  of  God  might  become  actual  in 
its  relation  to  man  was  (i)  That  man  should  be  caused 
to  know  not  merely  that  God  is  inherently  of  a  pro- 
pitious or  loving  and  gracious  nature,  but  that  there 
is  no  reason  on  his  part  why  he  may  not  manifest  him- 
self as  such  to  sinful  man.  Hence,  the  emphatic  an- 
nouncement at  the  outset,  and,  in  one  form  or  another, 
often  repeated  afterward,  that  Christ  is  our  "propitia- 
tion," or  the  basis  of  our  hope  of  mercy,  or  our  "  mer- 
cy-seat"— for  these  varying  forms  of  expression  are 
not  really  changes  of  idea  but  only  of  the  figure. 

The  second  (2)  thing  necessary  in  order  that  the  pro- 
pitiousness, which  Christ  has  made  it  possible  for  God 
to  manifest  toward  us,  may  be  actually  manifested  to- 
ward us  is,  what  in  the  above-mentioned  passage  (iii. 
25),  and  often  elsewhere,  Paul  calls  "  faith  in  his  blood," 
or  faith  in  him,  or  simply  faith ;  which  faith  necessa- 
rily implies  a  humble  and  contrite  spirit,  a  peniten- 
tial recognition  of  our  worthiness  of  condemnation, 
and  a  penitential  desire  to  live  in  harmony  with  the 
law  of  right,  which  is  the  law  of  God,  and  in  the  case 
of  those  who  know  Christ  historically  it  also  implies 
a  grateful  and  penitential  recognition  of  what  he  has 
done  to  render  it  possible  for  God  to  exhibit  toward  us 
his  inherent  propitiousness  in  so  far  as  to  remove  all 
condemnation.  But  in  the  case  of  those  who  did  not 
know  Christ  historically,  or  in  other  words  had  no 
knowledge  of  his  propitiatory  work,  all  that  was  nee- 


52  Introduction. 


essary  to  their  salvation  was  the  disposition  toward 
sin  on  the  one  hand  and  God  on  the  other,  which  the 
word  faith  implies,  but  it  would  not  have  been  suffi- 
cient had  not  Christ  been  a  propitiation.  But  the 
charge  which  Paul  makes  against  both  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile is  that  they  were  utterly  without  this  disposition, 
as  was  clearly  shown  by  their  wicked  lives.  Any  oth- 
er view  than  this  would  seem  to  sever  the  plan  of  sal- 
vation preached  by  Paul  from  the  plan  of  salvation  re- 
vealed in  the  Old  Testament — which  Paul  repeatedly 
declared  he  was  not  doing.  So  far  as  his  relation  to 
his  own  people  was  concerned  his  gospel  was  really 
an  elaborate  attempt  on  his  part  to  bring  back  to  the 
old  paths  the  wandering  Jew. 

And  this  provided  salvation  is  as  universal  as  sin 
and  sin  is  as  universal  as  the  race.  Nor  need  those, 
who  by  faith  made  it  their  salvation  actually,  have  any 
fear  as  to  its  final  certainty ;  for  through  the  suffering 
discipline  to  which  we  are  subjected  and  the  suffering 
and  ever  faithful  mediation  of  Him  who  died  for  the 
ungodly,  we  have  a  hope  which  shall  never  be  disap- 
pointed ;  for  if  Christ  would  die  for  the  ungodly,  so 
also  will  he  ever  thereafter  pledge  his  faithfulness  to 
those  who  enter  into  the  life  of  fellowship  with  him. 

2.  In  so  far  as  the  "  foolish  heart "  of  the  Gentiles 
was  not  utterly  darkened  and  indifferent  to  such  mat- 
ters, it  was  in  despair.  So  no  opposition  would  come 
from  the  Gentiles  to  Paul's  exposition  of  the  way  to 
be  saved,  or  of  the  way  to  attain  unto  true  righteous- 
ness. It  was  the  Jew  whose  objections  Paul  had  to 
meet. 

(i)  The  first  of  these  objections,  which  Paul  repre- 
sents as  being  addressed  to  him  is:  Does  not  your 
exposition  of  the  nature  of  salvation  and  of  the  way 


The  Tkachings  of  thk  Epistle.         53 

whereby  it  is  to  be  attained,  remove  all  ground  for 
holiness  of  life  ?  Does  it  not  rather  promote  sin  by 
encouraging  us  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come,  or  in 
order  that  grace  may  have  only  the  greater  opportu- 
nity to  be  manifested  toward  us?     (vi.  i.) 

**  By  no  means,"  says  Paul  (vi.  2) ;  and  he  proceeds 
in  the  following  verses  to  show  that  he  who  repre- 
sents him  as  so  teaching  greatly  misapprehends  and 
perverts  his  meaning.  This  righteousness,  he  says, 
which  is  a  gift  of  grace,  and  which  becomes  ours  by 
faith,  or  by  our  identifying  ourselves  in  spirit  with 
Christ,  is  in  its  very  nature  antagonistic  to  lawless- 
ness. Another  name  for  this  gift  of  grace  is  spiritual 
life,  and  another  name  for  sin  or  lawnessness  is  spir- 
itual death ;  and  he  who  is  spiritually  alive  can  not  at 
the  same  time  be  spiritually  dead.  The  very  fact  that 
we  have  come  into  possession  of  this  gift  implies  in 
its  very  nature  that  we  are  dead  to  sin,  and  of  course 
therefore  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  be  dead  to  sin  and 
at  the  very  same  time  show  that  we  are  still  alive  to 
sin  by  still  living  in  sin.  Or  in  other  words,  as  this 
righteousness  by  faith  consists  in  the  perfect  union 
of  ourselves  with  Christ,  we  are  obliged  to  share  his 
disapprobation  of  sin,  and  to  live  in  spirit,  at  least, 
just  such  a  life  as  he  lives — which  is  not  our  old  one 
of  sin  or  lawlessness.  Paul  represents  this  coming 
into  possession  of  righteousness  which  is  a  gift  of 
grace,  this  transition  from  the  old  life  of  sin  or  law- 
lessness to  the  new  life  of  spiritual  obedience  in 
Christ,  under  a  variety  of  figures.  It  is  a  transition 
from  death  to  resurrection,  our  old  selves  having 
been  crucified,  our  new  selves  being  the  risen  ones 
which  have  no  more  affinity  for  sin.  It  is  also  repre- 
sented as  being  a  transition  from  a  state  of  bondage, 


54  Introduction. 


sin  being  the  master  to  whom  we  gave  up  our  mem- 
bers, to  a  state  of  freedom  from  sin's  mastery  but  of 
enslavement  to  the  service  of  God.  The  same 
thought  is  presented  in  the  reference  to  the  marriage 
law  (vii.  if.)  which  binds  a  woman  to  her  husband  so 
long  only  as  he  lives.  The  relation  between  sin  and 
ourselves  is  dissolved,  so  that  we  are  no  longer  under 
sin's  law,  whether  sin  be  regarded  as  a  master  or  as  a 
husband. 

Thus  does  Paul  refute  the  charge  of  the  Jew  that 
his  theory  of  human  righteousness  instead  of  secur- 
ing human  righteousness  really  encouraged  human 
lawlessness;  and  thus  does  he  at  the  same  time  lay 
firmly  the  foundation  of  the  true  doctrine  of  sanctifi- 
cation,  or  morality,  or  holiness  of  life,  as  it  may  be 
variously  called :  this  foundation  being  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  self-contradiction  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  to  say  that  one  who  is  dead  to  sin  may  continue 
to  approve  a  life  of  isin. 

(2)  Another  objection  which  the  Jew  is  represented 
as  making  is :  "  What  of  the  law  ? "  he  says.  "  If  we 
can  attain  to  righteousness  apart  from  the  works  of 
the  law,  is  not  the  value  of  the  law  depreciated  ?  It 
would  seem  that  its  only  tendency  is  to  provoke  us  to 
sin."     (vi.  7.) 

This  objection  to  Paul's  teaching  causes  him  to  set 
forth  the  true  function  of  the  law  which  the  Jew  ob- 
viously misapprehends.  Paul  does  not  discredit  the 
law.  It  does  provoke  to  sin,  for  the  very  fact  that 
one  is  forbidden  to  do  a  thing  does  arouse  in  him  a 
desire  to  do  that  thing,  and  a  desire  to  which  he  only 
too  often  yields.  But  this  is  not  the  fault  of  the  law ; 
it  simply  shows  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin.  Why 
should  I  desire  most  of  all  to  do  that  which  is  for- 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         55 

bidden  simply  because  it  is  forbidden?  The  evil 
principle  is  within  me  whether  there  be  any  law  in 
existence  or  not.  But  if  there  be  a  law,  and  if  it 
be  known  by  me,  it  simply  enables  me  to  know  my- 
self as  a  sinner.  When  I  had  not  the  law  I  was  a 
sinner  and  did  not  know  it — that  is,  sin  in  me  was 
dormant,  or  was  dead  and  I  was  alive,  or  thought  I 
was;  but  when  I  had  the  law  sin  that  was  in  me 
showed  that  it  was  only  dormant  and  I  myself  was 
dead.  Hence,  all  that  the  law  can  do,  and  all  that  it 
was  intended  to  do,  is  to  plunge  me  into  a  state  of 
conscious  separation  from  God,  and  thereby  neither 
justify  me  nor  sanctify  me,  but  enable  me  to  realize 
my  need  of  both  justification  and  sanctification.  In- 
deed, the  more  I — that  is,  any  man  whether  regen- 
ate  or  unregenerate — endeavor  to  shake  off  the  yoke 
which  sin  by  means  of  the  law  has  put  upon  me  the 
more  galling  and  intolerable  do  I  find  its  weight  to 
be.  This  is  the  conflict  described  in  the  last  half  of 
chapter  vii.;  and  it  never  ceases.  It  continues  through 
life  side  by  side  with  the  experience  described  in  the 
next  chapter.  My  sanctification  or  holiness  does  not 
come  by  means  of  the  law  ;  it  can  never  so  come.  It 
comes  apart  from  my  relation  to  the  law.  It  consists 
in  my  being  in  Christ  Jesus — walking,  living  day  by 
day,  according  to  the  spirit  and  not  according  to  the 
flesh.  I — that  is,  my  real  self,  live  according  to  which- 
ever I  approve.  And  so  after  all,  it  is  not  I  who  sin. 
My  spirit  is  in  union  with  His  Spirit.  This  is  my 
sanctification.  Notwithstanding  the  incessant  con- 
flict, what  shall  I  fear?  Nothing.  Not  God,  not 
Christ,  not  tribulation,  not  separation  from  Christ, 
not  any  thing;  for  God  hath  determined  that  I 
should  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son. 


56  Introduction. 


3.  But  to  the  Jew  there  was  yet  another  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  his  acceptance  of  Paul's  phase  of  the  doc- 
trine concerning  salvation,  and  to  the  Jew  it  was  a 
very  grave  one.  It  was  his  doctrine  concerning  the 
election  of  Israel.  He  misapprehended  Paul  because 
he  misapprehended  the  true  view  of  God's  choice  of 
Israel.  God  is  absolute  sovereign,  that  is  true ;  and  so 
the  Jew  thought  that  the  Jew  believed.  But  after  all, 
in  reality  he  did  not  so  believe.  Paul  did,  and  hence 
he  believed  that  in  the  exercise  of  his  absolute  sov- 
ereignty he  might  also  elect  to  save  the  Gentiles,  at 
least  some  Gentiles — all  who  were  sincerely  seeking 
after  him  if  haply  they  might  find  him.  He  might  in 
the  exercise  of  his  absolute  sovereignty  even  deter- 
mine to  reject  Israel  as  his  people  and  elect  for  him- 
self a  new  people  out  of  the  Gentiles.  If  he  had 
sovereignly  chosen  one  of  Isaac's  sons  and  his  de- 
scendants to  be  his  people,  and  not  chosen  the  other, 
could  he  not  in  thief  case  also  exercise,  if  he  should 
deem  it  best,  a  like  sovereignty  ?  Had  he  not  even  in 
the  days  of  Moses,  declared  with  the  utmost  emphasis 
that  his  sovereignty  was  a  free  sovereignty,  bound 
by  no  law  extraneous  to  himself,  bound  by  no 
law  save  his  own  holy  will  or  nature?  Had  he 
not,  long  after  Israel  had  become  his  elect  people, 
threatened  them  plainly  through  Moses  with  sum- 
mary rejection,  saying  that  his  sovereignty  was  such 
that  he  was  perfectly  free  to  extend  this  electing  mer- 
cy to  whom  he  would  and  to  withhold  it  from  whom 
he  would  ?  Even  so  now  he  could  sovereignly  elect  to 
save  Gentiles. 

So  the  Jew's  misapprehension  of  his  relation  to  God, 
which  he  regarded  as  a  guaranty  of  his  salvation,  was 
based  upon  another  twofold  misapprehension,  first  of 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         57 

the  nature  of  salvation  or  righteousness,  and  second 
of  the  nature  of  the  divine  sovereignty.  And  both 
these  misapprehensions  were  founded  in  the  first  place 
on  a  false  reading  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures. 
Had  he  not  expressly  said  that  as  the  potter  chooses 
one  piece  of  clay  and  rejects  another,  the  reason  not 
necessarily  being  apparent  to  any  one  but  the  potter, 
so  also  could  he  choose  one  people  and  reject  another. 
Why  should  the  Jews  interpret  this  to  mean  that  God 
chose  them  and  rejected  the  Gentiles  and  that  he  could 
not  choose  the  Gentiles  and  reject  them?  Was  not 
this  to  deny  or  limit  the  divine  sovereignty  rather 
than  to  affirm  it  ?  It  would  seem  so ;  for  a  sovereign 
who  can  not  revoke  his  choice  or  reverse  it,  when  the 
conditions  upon  which  it  was  made  no  longer  exist, 
is  not  really  an  absolute  sovereign.  God's  election  of 
Israel  has  never  gotten  beyond  God's  control.  And 
had  he  not  expressly  said  by  the  mouth  of  one  whom 
the  Jews  regarded  as  one  of  his  prophets,  "  I  will  call 
that  my  people  which  was  not  my  people?"  What 
could  this  mean  but  that  he  would  call  the  Gentiles 
his  people,  and  in  a  more  explicit  sense  than  had  hith- 
erto been  done  ?  From  all  which  it  should  seem  evi- 
dent that  God  had  not  by  any  irrevocable  decree  de- 
barred the  Gentiles  from  that  righteousness  which 
consisted,  so  to  speak,  in  the  absorption  by  faith  of 
God's  own  righteous  character,  and  which  alone  con- 
stituted the  salvation  of  the  Jew,  and  that  by  reason 
of  the  very  nature  of  this  righteousness  which  consti- 
tuted his  salvation,  it  could  not  be  necessary  for  the 
Gentile,  in  order  that  he  might  possess  it,  to  pass 
through  a  process  of  Jewish  proselytism. 

4.  The  discussion  of  the  Jewish  attitude  toward  this 
subject  gives  Paul  occasion  to  do  two  things : 


58  Introduction. 


(i)  To  set  forth  (chapter  x.)  the  divinely  intended 
relation  of  the  Jews — his  own  dearly  beloved  people — 
toward  the   Gentiles.     The   more  we  read   Paul  the 
more  we  are  struck  either  with  his  inspiration  or  his 
profound   insight    into   the    teachings    both   of    the 
Old  Testament  and  of  Jesus  in  the  Gospels — profound 
insight  because  so  utterly  opposed  to  the  most  deep- 
seated  and  cherished  prejudices  of  the  Jews,  he  him- 
self being  a  Jew  and  having  been  a  Pharisee  of  the 
strictest  sect.     The   true  spirit   of   the  teaching  of 
the  Old  Testament,  which  the  Jew  could   not   con- 
sistently regard  as  offensive,  was  that  the  supreme 
fact  in  regard  to  Israel  was,  not  that  he  was  to  be  the 
exclusive  people  of  God  in  any  literal  and  national 
sense,  but  that  he  was  to  occupy  toward  the  Gentiles 
a  missionary  relation ;  he  was  to  be  a  light-bearer  to 
them ;  he  was  to  be  a  witness  of  God  to  them,  bearing 
witness  as  to  how  even  the  Gentiles  also  may  be  saved 
and  must  be  saved  ii^  saved  at  all.     This  only  way  of 
being  saved  can  not  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  ad- 
mit of  any  distinction  between  Jew  and  Gentile — be- 
tween one  man  and  another.     It  is  like  the  physician's 
medicine,  which  if  it  is  good  for  an  Englishman  is  un- 
der  like   circumstances  good  for  a  German.     Right- 
eousness is  righteousness  ;  the  Lord  is  the  same  Lord. 
That  which  he.  condemns  in  the  Gentile  he  can  not 
approve  in  the  Jew.     Christ  is  Lord,  and  whosoever, 
whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  bond  or  free,  whosoever  the 
wide  world  over,  calleth  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,  as 
the  Jew's  own  scriptures  teach,  shall  be  saved.     But 
would  there  not  be  more  calling  upon  God,  more  peni- 
tential hungering  and  thirsting  after  his  righteousness, 
if  men  only  knew  of  God— only  knew  of  his  right- 
eousness and  the  fact  that  it  might  in  some  sense  be 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         59 

transmitted  into  their  own  natures,  making  them  the 
sons  of  God,  in  the  likeness  of  God,  in  unison  with 
God  ?  But  how  can  they  know  this  unless  they  know 
Him  who  is  the  revealer  of  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness ?  And  how  can  they  know  Him  unless  they  be 
told?  And  who  is  there  to  tell  them  but  the  Jew?  Or, 
in  other  words,  him  who  already  knows,  whoever  he 
maybe.  "How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that 
bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things."  But  if  Israel 
would  neither  accept  the  message  nor  be  the  bearer 
of  it  to  others,  then  they  who  were  called  God's  peo- 
ple should  no  longer  be  his  people,  and  through  agen- 
cies of  his  own  providing  those  who  had  not  been 
called  his  people  should  become  his  people.  And  this 
in  turn  should  at  last  prove  to  be  a  blessing  to  Israel 
by  provoking  her  to  jealousy.  It  is  not  God's  purpose 
to  cast  off  Israel.  The  gospel  having  proceeded  from 
Israel  is  to  return  to  Israel,  and  it  is  God's  purpose  to 
so  exercise  his  loving  and  unrestricted  sovereignty  as 
to  give  salvation  as  an  actual  possession  to  all,  wheth- 
er Jew  or  Gentile,  who  sincerely  call  upon  his  name, 
and  to  those  who  were  historically  acquainted  with 
the  crucified  and  risen  Jesus,  calling  on  his  name  and 
calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  were  one  and  the 
same  thing.  They  could  never  clearly  and  fully  know 
the  Lord  until  they  knew  him  as  Christ. 

III.— The    Ethicae    Teaching. 

The  manner  of  life,  in  our  relation  to  God,  to  one 
another,  and  to  the  State,  which  should  naturally 
grow  out  of  Paul's  theory  of  salvation,  is  presented 
in  chapters  xii.  and  following.  Instead  of  being  one 
of  evil  doing  and  lawlessness,  as  the  Jew  supposed,  it 
was   in   all    respects    the  very   opposite.     We    have 


6o  Introduction. 


space   here  for   only  a  very  brief  consideration   of 
Paul's  teaching  on  this  subject. 

1.  The  Basis,  "I  beseech  you  thhrefore, 
brethren,"  etc.  This  word  "therefore"  links  Paul's 
practical  ethics  with  his  doctrine  of  salvation.  Being 
saved  consisted  in  being  "transformed,"  an  inward 
renewal,  having  God's  righteousness  in  us,  or  in  other 
words  still,  in  having  Christ  in  us.  It  is  in  this  that 
our  character,  or  spiritual  life,  consists.  This  is  the 
Pauline  basis  of  ethics.  The  outer  Mfe  is  to  be  the 
manifestation  of  the  inner  Christ,  a  continual  setting 
forth  of  the  perfect  will  of  God,  as  the  water  in  the 
stream  illustrates  the  character  of  the  fountain  from 
which  it  flows.  Such  a  life,  therefore,  as  his  theory 
called  for  could  not  be  otherwise  than  one  of  entire 
consecration  to  God,  non-conformity  to  the  world  as 
being  the  antithesis  of  God;  theoretically  perfect, 
however  practicall/  imperfect  it  might  be  by  reason 
of  ingredients  which  fall  into  it  by  the  way,  and 
which  did  not  come  from  the  fountain. 

2.  Our  Relation  to  God,  This  inward  consecra- 
tion becomes  outwardly  devoted  service  to  God  in 
whatever  sphere  his  providence  may  have  placed  us ; 
and  all  our  acts  are  to  receive  that  quality  which 
renders  them  acceptable  to  God  from  the  spirit  of  the 
Christ  within  us,  from  which  spirit  our  acts  proceed. 
If  we  serve  God  reluctantly  in  this  or  tliat  prescribed 
capacity  it  is  not  God's  service,  because  the  manner 
of  service  which  proceeds  from  the  Christ  within  us 
is  not  a  reluctant  service.  This  Christ  within  us 
becomes  our  character,  and  it  is  our  character  which 
determines  the  quality  of  our  service. 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         6i 

3.  Our  Relations  to  one  Another,  Here  again 
our  manner  of  life  is  to  receive  its  moral  tone  and 
quality  from  the  Christ  dwelling  in  us,  as  the  fruit  re- 
ceives its  quality  of  sweetness,  or  bitterness,  or  sour- 
ness, from  the  juice  which  pervades  it.  Paul's  teach- 
ing on  this  subject  in  the  last  half  of  chapter  xii.  is 
only  an  expansion  of  the  thought  which  he  expresses 
elsewhere:  Let  that  mind  or  disposition  be  in  you 
which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus.  If  Christ's  disposi- 
tion be  in  us  that  is  the  disposition  which  will  also 
determine  our  manner  of  life  toward  others.  We 
may  infer  his  mind  from  his  life.  He  might,  when  he 
was  persecuted,  have  taken  vengeance  into  his  own 
hands,  but  he  did  not  do  it.  When  he  was  reviled  he 
did  not  revile  back  again.  He  did  not  return  evil  for 
evil.  He  did  not  bear  himself  haughtily,  thinking  of 
himself  more  highly  than  he  ought  to  think.  He 
was  meek,  patient,  and  forgiving.  If  Christ  be  per- 
fectly formed  within  us,  so  shall  our  manner  of  life 
be  identical  with  his,  for  from  the  same  fountain  can 
not  come  two  different  streams. 

4.  Our  Relation  to  the  State  (chap.  xiii.). 
The  principle  which  Paul  lays  down  for  the  guidance 
of  the  Roman  Christians  in  their  relations  to  the 
Roman  government  is  also  of  universal  obligation : 
Let  every  soul  submit  himself  to  the  government 
which  is  over  him.  Why?  Because  government  is 
ordained  of  God,  just  as  the  family  is,  and  the 
Church.  God  is  a  God  of  order,  not  of  confusion  and 
anarchy.  Christians  can  not  be  Christ-like  without 
being  God-like,  and  they  can  not  be  God-like  without 
loving  order.  But  there  can  be  no  social  order  where 
there  is  no  social  organism — a  renunciation  of  some 


62  Introduction. 


individual  rights,  and  the  recognition  of  the  authority 
of  law.  If  the  government  in  any  particular  instance 
happens  to  be  a  bad  one  in  any  respect,  submit  to  it, 
for  even  a  bad  government  is  better  than  to  have 
every  man  set  out  for  himself,  and  for  himself  alone. 
If  the  government  commands  you  to  do  what  is 
morally  wrong,  still  submit  to  it,  not  by  obeying  its 
commands,  but  by  quietly  submitting  to  its  punish- 
ment. Government  is  ordained  of  God,  but  any  par- 
ticular form  of  administration  may  be  changed,  not 
by  substituting  lawlessness,  but  by  introducing  in  the 
place  of  the  bad  a  better  form.  The  difference  is 
great  between  the  anarchist  and  him  who,  while  he 
resists  the  government,  at  the  same  time  recognizes 
the  universal  binding  force  of  social  law,  and  if  need 
be  bows  in  meek  submission  to  its  penalty. 

5.  In  Relation  to  Things  Indifferent,    Two 

things  are  here  to  be  accomplished — first,  a  test  or 
criterion  must  be  furnished  whereby  to  determine 
what  acts  are  indifferent ;  second,  to  exercise  a  spirit 
of  charity  toward  one  another  in  regard  to  these 
matters. 

Of  course,  in  the  estimation  both  of  Jew  and 
Gentile,  if  there  should  be  an  agreement  that  a  given 
act  or  course  of  conduct  is  morally  neither  right  nor 
wrong,  there  could  no  longer  be  any  dispute  about  it. 
Hence,  in  order  to  appreciate  the  teachings  of  Paul 
on  this  subject  (chap,  xiv.)  it  is  necessary  to  read  what 
he  says  in  the  light  of  the  important  principle  which 
he  has  already  established  in  a  former  part  of  his 
epistle.  This  principle  may  be  stated  in  a  variety  of 
forms,  as  (i)  Morality  in  the  strict  and  true  sense  is 
spiritual,   something  that   inheres    in   and  proceeds 


The  Teachings  of  the  Epistle.         63 

from  our  character ;  the  act,  therefore,  deriving  its 
so-called  m6ral  character  from  the  character  of  him 
who  performs  it;  or  {2)  MoraHty  is  not  something 
which  can  be  made  or  unmade  by  the  deliverances  of 
an  ecclesiastical  authority,  but  is  something  immut- 
able ;  or  (3)  Unto  the  pure  are  all  things  pure,  even 
meats  or  v/ines  offered  to  idols ;  or  (4)  Whatsoever  is 
not  of  faith  is  sin.  The  Christian's  conscience  is 
determined  by  the  Christian's  character;  and  the 
Christian's  character  is  only  another  name  for  the 
Christ,  or  divine  righteousness  in  him.  Whatsoever, 
therefore,  the  Christian  can  not  do  with  a  good  con- 
science it  is  wrong  for  him  to  do,  though  not  wrong 
for  another  who  can  do  it  with  an  approving  con- 
science. The  question,  therefore,  which  every  one  is 
to  ask  is  not.  Is  it  wrong  to  eat  meat  ?  Is  it  wrong  to 
dance?  Is  it  wrong  to  have  Church  fairs  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  money?  etc.,  but.  Is  it  wrong  for 
me  to  do  so?  And  this  is  a  question  which  every 
person  must  determine  for  himself  in  the  light  of  his 
own  conscience  and  in  view  of  his  individual  responsi- 
bility to  God — for  it  is  in  his  relation  to  God  and  not 
to  his  fellow  that  every  man  must  stand  or  fall. 

But  in  its  applications  to  our  daily  lives  the  prin- 
ciple as  laid  down  by  Paul  is  also  according  to  him  to 
be  under  the  modifying  influence  of  Christian  charity. 
All  things  may  be  lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  may 
not  be  expedient,  whereas  you  may  regard  them  as 
both  in  their  relation  to  you.  And  in  regard  to  these 
debatable  questions  no  Christian  is  to  make  his  judg- 
ment the  standard  of  another's  conduct.  One  may 
esteem  it  right  to  do  this  or  that,  and  another  may 
esteem  it  wrong ;  but  let  each  be  persuaded  in  his 
own  mind,  and  act  accordingly.    The  Christian  who 


64  Introduction. 


regards  himself  as  strong,  able  to  do  with  a  good 
conscience  that  which  another's  conscience  will  not 
allow  him  to  do,  should  respect  the  scruples  of  his 
weaker  brother,  making  no  attempt  to  induce  him  to 
act  in  opposition  to  his  conscience.  And  if  his 
example  in  doing  these  debatable  things  should  be  a 
source  of  temptation  to  the  weak  one,  then  for  the 
sake  of  his  brother's  infirmities  of  conscience  he 
should  be  willing  to  deny  himself  and  refrain  from 
doing  them. 

Paul  does  not  mean,  however,  that  one  is  the  abso- 
lute keeper  of  another's  conscience,  or,  in  other 
words,  that  the  weakness  of  the  weak  is  an  absolute 
law  unto  the  strong.  If  the  strong  are  to  respect  the 
weakness  of  the  weak,  so  are  these  latter  to  respect 
the  strength  of  the  strong.  The  virtue  of  a  charitable 
and  liberal  spirit  is  not  to  be  so  pressed  as  to  involve 
the  sacrifice  of  all  liberty.  The  conscience  of  neither 
party  is  to  be  the  sl^ve  of  the  conscience  of  the  other. 
"  lyCt  us  not,  therefore,  judge  one  another  any  more,'* 
is  a  precept  addressed  no  less  to  the  weak  than  to  the 
strong.  If  I,  for  reasons  satisfactory  to  me,  should 
deem  it  best  to  act  in  opposition  to  my  brother's  con-^ 
science,  Paul's  teaching  allows  me  the  liberty  of  so 
doing.  If  Paul  himself  had  not  acted  according  to 
this  teaching  it  is  not  likely  that  he  could  ever  have 
been  an  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  Jewish  scruples  were 
not  very  favorable  to  his  ministry,  especially ;  anb  it 
was  his  privilege,  in  the  exercise  of  his  strong  liberty, 
and  of  his  broad  Christian  charity  toward  those  who 
differed  with  him  in  these  matters  of  casuistry,  to  do 
more  than  any  other  apostle  toward  removing  such 
harmful  prejudices  from  the  way  of  the  gospel. 


COMMENTARY. 


I. 

THE  PREFACE. 

Verses  1-15. 
(i.  Superscription,  vs.  1-7 ;  2.  Introduction,  vs.  8-15.) 

It  was  the  custom  of  ancient  letter  writers  to  sign 
their  names  at  the  beginning  of  the  letter,  and  not  at 
the  end  as  we  do,  thus,  "A.  B.  to  C.  D. ;  "  and  then, 
instead  of  saying  **  Dear  Friend  "  or  "  Dear  Sir,"  the 
Greeks  said,  "A.  B.  to  C.  D.  Wishes  Joy;"  the 
Romans,  "A.  B.  to  C.  D.  Wishes  Health ;  "  and  the 
Jews,  "A.  B.  to  C.  D.  Wishes  Peace."  Paul  combines 
the  classical  and  Jewish  forms,  giving  a  higher  mean- 
ing to  both,  and  writes,  ''  Wishes  Grace  and  Peace," 
or,  "Grace  to  you  and  Peace,"  often  adding  the 
further  words,  **  From  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  Compare  the  superscription  here  with 
that  of  each  of  Paul's  other  epistles.  He  does  not 
sign  his  name  simply  "  Paul,"  as  in  the  first  and 
second  Thessalonians,  the  first  which  he  wrote,  but 
usually  writes  it  ofificially,  "  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  "  Paul,  a  servant  of  Christ,"  etc.  He  here 
includes  in  his  salutation  an  expression  of  warm 
personal  sympathy  for  the  Christians  at  Rome,  many 
of  whom  were,  doubtless,  old  personal  friends  whom 
he  had  drawn  to  him  at  Ephesus  and  other  parts  of 
the  Roman  world. 

5  .  (65) 


66  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  I.,  V.  I  -.—Paul,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  called  to  be 
an  apostle,  separated  u7ito  the  gospel  of  God. 

Verse  i.  Paul,  See  on  this  name,  Introduction, 
p.  I.  A  servant.  Bondman,  or  slave,  as  the  word 
dou/os  here  rendered  always  means.  The  word 
servant  is  admissible,  provided,  we  think,  not  of  a 
hired  servant,  nor  of  a  servant  in  the  sense  in  which 
diakonos,  or  deacon,  is  rendered  in  chap.  xvi.  i,  and 
elsewhere.  Perhaps  many  or  even  all  the  Christians 
to  whom  Paul  here  writes  were  made  familiar  by 
painful  experience  with  the  meaning  of  this  word 
which  denoted  a  Roman  slave.  There  were  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  them  in  the  great  city  at  the  time 
when  Paul  was  writing  this  epistle,  and  millions  more 
in  other  parts  of  the  empire.  The  Roman  master 
had  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  his  slave,  and  no 
matter  how  arbitrar^y  and  cruelly  he  might  use  this 
power,  he  was  accountable  neither  to  the  slave  nor  to 
the  government.  That  Paul,  in  whose  veins  flowed 
not  one  drop  of  the  obsequious  blood,  should  have 
uniformly  applied  such  a  term  to  himself,  shows  how 
absolute  and  intense  was  his  allegiance  to  Christ.  He 
regarded  himself  not  as  his  own  but  as  Christ's  prop- 
erty, as  truly  as  if  he  had  been  literally  bought  with  a 
price.  He  was,  therefore,  under  bounden  obligation 
to  Christ ;  though  it  is  by  no  means  implied  that  he 
regarded  his  master  as  a  hard  one.  Jesus  Christ, 
This  form  of  expression  means  Jesus  who  is  the  Mes- 
siah ;  it  identifies  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the  Christ 
or  Messiah,  and  this  Paul  must  have  meant  to  do. 
The  form  "Christ  Jesus"  would  have  meant  the 
Messiah  who  is  Jesus.  With  us  the  forms  are  prac- 
tically equivalent,  though  they  were  not  originally  so, 


Chapter  I.  67 


for  the  one  ascribed  divinity  to  Jesus,  while  the  other 
ascribed  a  lowly  humanity  to  the  Christ.  The 
humanity  of  Jesus  was  evident,  but  his  divinity  was 
not.  Called  to  be  an  Apostle.  A  man  may  be 
called  10  be  a  Christian  and  yet  not  actuall}-  be  one, 
for  he  may  resist  the  Spirit's  call.  Paul  means  that 
he  is  an  apostle,  not  by  self-appointment,  not  by 
human  appointment,  but  by  the  call  of  Christ,  as  were 
the  other  apostles.  It  is  this  fact  that  is  to  give  his 
words  official  weight  with  those  to  whom  he  writes. 
The  word  "  apostle  "  denotes  the  special  form  of  serv- 
ice to  which  Paul  was  called  by  Christ.  The  apostles 
were  the  servants  to  whom  it  was  intrusted  to  found 
the  Christian  Church ;  the  evangelists  extended  it  by 
securing  converts,  while  the  pastors  and  teachers 
strengthened  and  otherwise  contributed  to  its  perfect- 
ing by  their  special  labors.  The  man  who  was  an 
apostle  in  this  special  sense  might  also  combine  in 
himself  the  function  of  the  others;  but  when  the 
evangelists  are  also  called  apostles  the  word  must  be 
understood  in  an  unofficial  sense.  Separated.  Sep- 
arated by  Christ  from  all  other  vocations,  and  set 
apart  by  him  to  his  apostolic  work.  Paul  does  not 
refer  here  to  any  human  consecration  nor  to  an 
eternal  election  of  himself  to  his  office  and  work  as 
an  apostle,  but  rather  regards  all  the  circumstances 
of  his  life  culminating  in  his  conversion  as  a  provi- 
dential leading  thereto;  see  Gal.  i.  15.  Unto  the 
gospel  of  God.  Unto  the  work  of  preaching  the 
good  tidings,  not  concerning  God,  but  concerning 
Christ,  and  of  which  glad  tidings  God  is  the  author. 
See  verse  3. 

V.  2.  Promised.    God  had  not  merely  promised 


68  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  2 : —  IVhich  he  had  promised  afore  by  his  prophets  in  the 
holy  Scriptures. 

V.  3  -.—Concerning  his  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  which 
was  made  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the  flesh. 

and  caused  the  promises  to  be  recorded  in  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  that  there  should  at  sometime 
be  glad  tidings,  but  he  had  also  promised  that  these 
glad  tidings  should  be  preached  to  the  Gentiles  also  ; 
and  we  think  that  it  is  these  latter  promises  that 
Paul  here  has  especially  in  mind,  for  he  was  pre- 
eminently an  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  and  refers  to  the 
promises  in  immediate  connection  with  his  own  work. 
Paul's  Jewish  critics,  with  whom  he  will  have  much 
to  do  before  he  concludes  the  epistle,  might  therefore 
see  in  this  verse  allusion  to  the  well-known  Jewish 
attitude  toward  the  Gentiles  in  respect  to  the  matter 
of  being  saved.         ^ 

V.  3.  Concerning  bis  Son.  That  is,  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  concerning  his  Son.  The  Revised 
Version  omits  the  words,  "Jesus  Christ  our  Lord," 
but  inserts  them  in  verse  4,  so  that  in  neither  case  is 
there  any  doubt  as  to  w^ho  "  his  Son  "  is.  Made  of 
the  seed  of  David  according  to  the  ftesh. 
Whether  we  regard  Mary  only  or  both  Joseph  and 
Mary,  as  descended  from  David,  the  words  here  ren- 
dered do  not  impl3^  that  Paul  believed  Jesus'  body  and 
human  nature  to  be  of  the  seed  or  race  of  David  in 
the  same  sense  that  Joseph  or  Mary  was — that  is.  by 
ordinary  generation.  The  words  are  quite  consistent 
with  Paul's  belief,  as  elsewhere  expressed,  in  the 
immaculate  conception  on  the  part  of  Mary  by  the 
Holy  Ghost;  and  the  words  "was  made,"  are  in  the 


Chapter  I.  69 


V.  4  -.—And  declared  lo  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  ac- 
cording to  the  Spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead. 


Greek  "was  born"  or  "became" — that  is,  the  pre- 
existent  Son  of  God  became  human  and  in  doing  so 
attached  himself  to  the  race  of  David  by  being  born 
of  Mary  a  descendant  of  David. 

V.  4.  Declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God,    We 

must  understand  the  word  "  declared  "  to  carry  with  it 
here  the  additional  sense  of  proven  to  be.  With 
power.  Not  the  Son  of  God  endowed  with  power  as 
contrasted  with  his  weakness  as  the  seed  of  the 
woman  as  mentioned  in  the  preceding  verse.  He  was 
declared  and  proven  in  a  powerful  manner  to  be  the 
Son  of  God.  The  proof  here  referred  to  is  his  resur- 
rection from  the  dead.  According  to  the  spirit 
of  holiness.  As  he  was  of  the  seed  of  David  in 
respect  to  the  flesh,  so  was  he  declared  and  proven  to 
be  the  Son  of  God  in  respect  to  the  spirit  of  holiness. 
There  were  two  sides,  or  parts,  or  natures,  so  to 
speak,  to  Christ's  being.  In  the  one  consisted  his 
humanity,  in  the  other  his  divinity,  or  divine  nature, 
here  called  his  "spirit  of  holiness,"  because  as  the 
Son  of  God  he  was  essentially  spirit  as  God  is,  and 
also  essentially  holy  as  God  is.  The  expression  does 
not.  therefore,  we  think,  mean  the  Holy  Spirit,  though 
he  did  descend  and  rest  upon  Christ.  Christ  himself 
is  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament  spoken  of  as  "the 
Spirit,"  and  the  "eternal  Spirit"  (i  Tim.  iii.  16; 
Heb.  ix.  14),  but  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  third  Person  of 
the  Trinity,  is  never  spoken  of  as  "the  spirit  of 
holiness." 


70  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  5 : — By  whom  we  have  received  grace  and  apostleship, 
for  obedience  to  the  faith  among  all  nations,  for  his  name. 

V.  5.  JBy  whom.  In  tlie  sense  of,  from  whom,  or 
through  whom.  Christ  having  risen  from  the  dead 
and  thereby  established  his  oft-repeated  assertion  that 
he  was  the  Son  of  God,  we  (that  is,  Paul)  have  re- 
ceived grace  and  apostleship.  But  if  Jesus  had  not 
thus  established  himself  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  Paul 
could  not  have  received  this  from  him,  because 
he  could  not  have  believed  him  to  be  other  than  an 
impostor,  one  who  had  gathered  about  him  a  few  dis- 
ciples, attracted  a  momentary  attention,  and  at  last 
been  crucified.  As  we  learn  both  from  the  Acts  and 
from  his  Epistles,  Paul  always  regarded  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus,  to  which  he  himself  could  personall}^ 
testify,  as  a  fact  of  fundamental  importance.  It 
proved  that  Jesus  was  all  that  he  claimed  to  be  ;  and 
hence  in  Paul's  estimation  to  admit  and  acquiesce  in 
the  resurrection  was  to  admit  and  acquiesce  in  the 
whole  gospel.  **  He  was  raised  for  our  justification," 
says  Paul,  because  if  he  had  not  been  raised  we  would 
not  have  believed  on  him,  and  hence  there  could  have 
been  no  justification  through  faith  in  him.  See  also 
chapter  x.  9. 

Grace  and  apostleship.  By  this  Paul  means  all 
that  he  was  as  a  converted  and  renewed  man  and  all 
that  he  was  ofiicially.  It  is  a  second  afiirmation^  that 
he  received  his  apostleship  not  from  man,  not  from 
the  Church,  but  directly  from  Christ. 

Por  obedience  to  the  faith.  The  end,  or  pur- 
pose, for  which  the  "  grace  and  apostleship  "  had  been 
conferred  was  that  the  gospel  might  be  preached 
among  all  the  Gentiles  and  that  they  might  thereby 


Chapter  I. 


V.  6 : — Among  whom  are  ye  also  the  called  of  Jesus  Christ: 
V.  7 : — To  all  that  be  in  Rome,  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be 

saints :  Grace  to  you,  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father  and 

the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

attain  to  that  obedience  which  consists  not  merely  in 
the  single  initial  act  of  faith  but  also  and  especially 
in  the  life  or  habit  of  faith.  JPor  his  name.  In 
behalf  of,  or  for  the  sake  of  his  name.  The  gospel  is 
preached  among  the  Gentiles,  and  they  are  won  to 
the  obedience  which  consists  in  faith,  for  his  name's 
sake,  or  for  the  promotion  of  the  honor  and  glory  of 
Christ's  name. 

V.  6.  Among  whom  are  ye  also.  The  apostle 
tells  the  Romans  that  they  also  are  included  among 
the  nations,  or  Gentiles,  to  whom  it  was  his  especial 
apostolic  privilege  to  publish  the  gospel ;  as  he  was 
by  call  of  Christ  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  so  the 
Romans  were  by  call  of  Christ  a  part  of  his  great 
flock.  This  same  authority  which  made  it  his  duty  to 
address  them  made  it  their  duty  to  hear  him.  The 
expression,  however,  may  also  include  the  further 
meaning  that  those  to  whom  Paul  was  writing  were 
already  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

V.  7.  To  all  that  he  in  Rome.  This  verse 
refers  back  to  verse  i,  and  concludes  the  superscrip- 
tion of  the  letter.  ''Paul  ....  to  all  that  be  at 
Rome,"  etc.  Compare  this  with  the  mode  of  address 
employed  by  Paul  in  his  other  epistles.  He  addressed 
the  Corinthians,  Thessalonians,  and  Galatians,  as 
Churches.  The  population  of  Rome  at  this  time  was 
between  one  and  two  millions,  and  the  Christians 
gathered  there  were  doubtless  also  very  numerous, 


72  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

and  were  not  as  yet  organized  into  a  definite  church, 
or  into  a  number  of  separate  churches.  Called  to 
be  saints.  That  is,  saints  by  call,  as  Paul  was  an 
apostle  by  call.  The  word  *'  saints  "  is  used  to  desig- 
nate those  who  are  now  commonly  called  Christians, 
and  denotes  those  who  are  by  profession  set  apart  or 
consecrated  to  the  service  of  Christ.  Christians  were 
fiist  called  Christians  at  Antioch  about  twelve  years 
before  Paul  wrote  this  epistle,  but  the  word  does  not 
seem  to  have  come  into  general  use  at  this  time ;  at 
least,  it  does  not  occur  but  three  times  in  the  New 
Testament,  twice  in  the  Acts,  and  once  in  the  first 
Epistle  of  Peter.  The  word  "  saint "  might  apply  to 
any  earnest  seeker  after  God,  any  one  longing  to 
know  the  truth,  and  to  do  the  truth,  whether  nom- 
inally^ a  Christian  or  not.  There  might  be  many  such 
at  Rome  who  had  not  heard  much  of  Christ,  and  to 
all  such  this  epistle,  which  has  so  much  of  Christ  in 
it,  was  addressed.      ^ 

Grace  to  you  and  peace.  The  Greek  word 
charis  joy,  is  here,  and  often  elsewhere  in  the  New 
Testament,  rightly  rendered  grace.  It  means  that 
kind  disposition  of  one  person  toward  another  which 
is  itself  a  favor  and  which  often  manifests  itself  in 
the  bestowment  of  other  favors.  It  was  the  word 
employed  by  Greek  and  Roman  letter  writers  in  a 
formal  sense  merely,  very  much  after  the  manner  of 
our  '*  Dear  Sir ;  "  but  Paul  uses  it  in  a  higher  and 
more  significant  sense,  and  generally  adds,  as  he  does 
here,  "  from  God  the  Father,"  etc.  The  grace  which 
he  feels  toward  us  as  Father,  and  which  he  also  has 
actually  manifested  toward  us  in  his  provision  for  us 
and  dealings  with  us  may  well  produce  in  us  joy. 
But  Paul  also  says  and  peace.     This  was  the  word 


Chapter  I.  y^t 


which  the  Jews  used ;  but  Paul  uses  it  in  a  sense  far 
higher  than  the  formal  one ;  it  was  with  him  not  a 
mere  passing  salutation,  as  one  Jew  might  say  to 
another  shalom  Pka,  peace  be  unto  thee.  Paul's  wish 
was  a  real  one,  and  the  peace  which  he  prayed  might 
be  to  the  saints  at  Rome  was  peace  with  their  own 
consciences,  peace  with  one  another,  and  peach  with 
Ood  which  comes  from  God  the  Father  of  them  and 
from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Rom.  v.  i ;  John 
xiv.  27. 

Introduction,  Verses  8-15. 

After  the  salutation  Paul  does  not  proceed  at  once 
to  the  statement  and  discussion  of  the  fundamental 
theme  of  the  epistle,  but,  as  in  his  other  epistles,  he 
first  writes  a  short  introduction  or  preface.  In  verses 
1-7,  in  addition  to  his  usual  salutation,  he  established, 
as  we  have  seen,  between  himself  and  the  Romans  an 
official  relation— he  on  his  part  being  an  apostle  to  the 
Gentiles  by  call  of  Christ,  they  on  their  part  being  by 
call  of  Christ  the  members  of  his  great  parish ;  hence 
his  right  to  address  them.  But  Paul  was  not  merely 
an  apostle  and  profound  reasoner ;  he  was  also  a  man 
of  profound  emotional  nature,  tender  and  aflfectionate 
of  heart.  He  now  proceeds,  therefore,  as  he  also  did 
in  other  instances,  to  further  win  the  attention  of  his 
readers  by  informing  them  of  the  deep  and  sincere 
interest  which  he  feels  in  their  welfare,  and  of  the 
deep  and  sincere  affection  which  he  has  for  them. 
They  are  far  from  the  center  of  the  usual  apostolic 
labors ;  but  he  cares  for  them  ;  he  prays  for  them  ;  he 
commends  their  world-famed  faith ;  he  longs  to  visit 
them ;  he  thinks  that  he  may  derive  strength  and  en- 


74  'The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  8: — Firsts  I  thank  my  God  through  Jesus  Christ  for  you 
ally  that  your  faith  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole  world. 

V.  9 : — For  God  is  my  witness,  whom  I  serve  with  my  spirit 
in  the  gospel  of  his  Son,  that  without  ceasing  I  make  mention 
of  you  always  in  m,y  prayers. 

couragement  from  the  actual  sight  of  those  so  faithful 
under  such  adverse  circumstances  ;  and  thus  does  the 
great  and  tender-hearted  apostle  establish  between 
himself  and  them  a  relation  of  heart  to  heart. 

V.  8.  Pirst,  In  the  first  place,  Paul  expresses  his 
thanks  concerning  the  Christians  at  Rome,  before  pro- 
ceeding with  the  discussion  of  the  great  subject  of 
salvation  ;  the  formal  "  in  the  second  place,"  however, 
does  not  occur.  My  God,  One's  God  is  the  God 
whom  one  serves  and  to  whom  one  lives  in  close  affec- 
tionate relation.  Through  Jesus  Christ.  "The 
gifts  of  God  come  to  us  through  Christ,  our  thanks- 
givings go  to  God  tkrough  Christ "  (Bengel) ;  so  also 
do  our  praj^ers  ;  he  is  the  mediator  between  God  and 
man  and  man  and  God,  he  is  as  the  ladder  which  the 
angels  ascended  and  descended.  F'or  you  all.  On 
account  of  all  of  3^ou.  The  whole  world.  Rome 
being  the  center  to  which  and  from  which  Christians 
from  all  parts  were  constantly  moving,  the  faithful- 
ness of  those  at  Rome  to  their  Christian  profession 
would  become  universally  known. 

V.  9.  For  God  is  my  witness.  The  strong  as- 
sertion which  I  make  is  true,  and  since  none  but  God 
can  know  my  constant,  voiceless  prayers  concerning 
you,  I  solemnly  appeal  to  him  as  my  witness.  The 
burden,  not  only  of  all  the  Churches,  but  of  each  in- 
dividual Church  in  his  vast  field,  was  on  the  heart  of 


Chapter  I.  ys 


V.  lo: — Making  request,  if  by  any  ineafis  now  at  length  I 
might  have  a  prosperous  journey  by  the  will  oj  God  to  come 
unto  you. 

V.  II  -.—For  I  long  to  see  you,  that  I  may  impart  unto  you 
some  spiritual  gift,  to  the  end  ye  may  be  established. 


Paul,  and  none  but  God  could  know  how  intensely ; 
and  at  the  very  time  he  wrote  this  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  he  was  endeavoring  to  establish  the  Corin- 
thians, and  was  gathering  contributions  to  carry  to  the 
poor  Christians  in  far-away  Judea.  With  my 
spirit.  With  my  inmost  heart  and  soul.  In  the 
gospel  of  his  Son.  In  preaching  the  gospel  of  his 
Son.  The  fact  that  he  thus  preached  the  glad  tidings 
of  the  Father's  Son  was  proof  that  he  thus  served  the 
Son's  Father. 

V.  ID.  Making  request.  It  had  long  been  Paul's 
desire  and  abiding  prayer  that  he  might  at  some  time 
be  so  prospered  as  to  visit  the  Christians  at  Rome; 
and  this  is  a  proof  of  his  affection  for  them,  and  the 
sincerity  of  his  thanksgiving  on  account  of  them, 
mentioned  in  verse  8.  But  he  can  not  go  now  for  he 
is  on  the  eve  of  a  long  journey  to  Jerusalem ;  "  and 
the  eagerness  of  desire  is  tempered  by  resignation  to 
the  will  of  God,  who  will  bring  all  to  a  prosperous 
issue  in  his  own  way,  and  at  his  own  time."  Three 
or  four  years  after  this  Paul  went  to  Rome,  his  ex- 
penses being  paid  by  the  Roman  government;  and 
thus  was  his  prayer  answered.  But  he  went  as  a 
chained  prisoner. 

V.  II.  For  I  long  to  see  you.  The  word  'I 
long"   (epipotho),  along  with  the  expression  of   the 


76  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


V.  12:— That  is,  that  I  may  be  comforted  together  with  you 
by  the  mutual  faith  both  of  you  and  me. 

V.  13  -.—Now  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant^  brethren,  that 
oftentimes  I  purposed  to  come  unto  you  {but  was  let  hitherto), 
that  I  might  have  some  fruit  among  you  also,  even  as  among 
other  Gentiles. 

desire  which  goes  out  toward  them,  is  one  of  regret 
at  not  having  been  able  to  come  sooner.  (Godet.)  See 
also  ch.  XV.  23.  Spiritual  gift.  A  gift  to  their 
spirit,  through  Paul's  spirit,  from  the  Holy  Spirit; 
such  as  increase  of  strength,  knowledge,  love,  hope, 
faith.  May  he  established.  Made  secure  against 
trials,  especially  the  temptation  to  relapse  into  idolatry 
and  other  forms  of  heathenism,  as  this  was  the  trial 
to  which  they  would  be  most  severely  exposed.  Paul 
does  not  say  "  that  I  may  establish  you ;  "  he  regarded 
himself  as  only  the  means  through  whom  the  in- 
creased strength  was  to  be  imparted. 

V.  12.   That   iSy  I  may   he    comforted,    etc. 

Paul  hastens  to  assure  the  Roman  Christians,  whose 
faith  he  had  commended  in  verse  8,  that  he  does  not 
expect  the  benefit  to  be  all  on  their  side,  but  that  he 
also  expects  to  receive  needed  encouragement  from 
his  association  with  them,  and  from  his  actual  observa- 
tion of  their  faith.  This  is  a  beautiful  example  both 
of  Paul's  humility  and  of  his  delicacy  of  feeling- 
characteristics  of  the  truly  great  man. 

V.  13.  Now  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant, 

etc.  Paul  had  been  an  apostle  about  twenty  years; 
his  Roman  readers  misrht  have  said,  If  he  feels  so  deep 
an  interest  in  us  and  has  been  an  apostle  so  long, 


Chaptkr  I.  'JJ 


V.  14 : — /  am  debtor  both  to  the  Greeks,  and  to  the  Barba- 
rians; both  to  the  wise^  and  to  the  unwise. 

why  has  he  not  visited  us?  Hence,  he  assures  them 
that  he  has  often  purposed  to  visit  them,  but  that  he 
has  been  let,  or  hindered,  hitherto.  He  does  not  state 
what  the  hindering  cause  was.  Perhaps  there  was 
more  than  one  cause,  one  or  all  of  which  they  might 
not  fully 'appreciate;  or  perhaps  he  does  not  wish  to 
place  much  stress  on  simply  an  anticipated  criticism 
of  his  failure  to  visit  them.  Rather  than  say  any  thing 
that  would  intimate  a  belief  on  his  part  that  the  Ro- 
mans earnestly  desired  him  to  come,  he  hastens  to  tell 
them  that  the  reason  why  he  wishes  to  visit  them  is  a 
personal  one,  and  recalls  their  mind  by  a  different 
choice  of  words  to  the  fact  stated  in  verse  1 1 ,  that  he 
wished  to  have  some  fruit  of  labor  among  them,  even 
as  among  other  Gentiles.  The  whole  verse  furnishes 
us  another  illustration  of  Paul's  delicacy  of  feeling. 

V.  14.  I  am  debtor.  Note  the  still  varying 
aspect  in  which  Paul  presents  his  desire  to  visit  the 
Romans;  (i)  that  they  may  receive  some  spiritual 
gift ;  (2)  that  he  may  receive  from  them  some  spirit- 
ual gift;  (3)  that  he  may  have  some  fruit  in  them, 
interest,  as  it  were,  on  the  gift  which  they  had 
received  from  him ;  (4)  that  he  may  pay  a  debt  which 
he  owes  them.  He  was  the  apostle  to  the  Gentile 
world,  and  he  was  under  obligation,  the  necessity 
being  laid  upon  him.  He  claims  no  credit  for  his 
zeal,  and  it  is  no  unholy  ambition  simply  to  be  world- 
wide in  his  ministry,  for  he  looked  also  to  Spain  and 
the  countries  far  beyond  Rome;  it  is  simply  an 
apostolic  debt,  an  obligation  under  which  he  has  been 
placed,  not  by  but  to  all  the  Gentile  peoples  of  what- 


78  Thh;  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


V.  15: — So,  as  mwh  as  hi  tne  is,  I  am  ready  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  you  that  are  at  Rome  also. 

ever  nationality  or  degree  of  culture,  and  his  duty  is 
his  delight.  It  is  worth  while  to  notice  this  ground 
on  which  Paul  bases  his  missionary  labors.  It  is  not 
their  condition,  however  pitiable  on  any  account 
their  condition  may  be,  for  the}^  may,  after  all,  regard 
themselves  as  "  cultured  Greeks,"  needing  no  mis- 
sionary. But  with  Paul  the  basis  of  missionary  labor 
is  simply  the  debt  or  obligation  under  which  he  has 
been  placed  by  Christ  to  all  the  heathen.  It  is  a  tre- 
mendous debt,  and  he  must  endeavor  with  all  his 
might  to  discharge  it,  let  the  heathen  themselves 
think  about  as  they  pleased.  The  Church  of  to-day 
should  take  the  same  true,  and  pure,  and  lofty  view 
of  the  matter ;  and  the  Church  which  has  to  be 
aroused  by  painful  appeals  to  its  pity,  is  not  in  a  good 
spiritual  condition.  I  owe  this  debt  and  I  am  going 
to  pay  it,  no  matter  whether  my  creditor  thinks  he 
needs  the  money  or  not — that  is  all  that  it  ought  to 
be  necessary  to  say  about  it.  The  fact  that  Christ  has 
saved  the  Church  is  the  one  circumstance  that  makes 
it  the  Church's  bounden  duty  to  save  the  heathen  ;  and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  any  Christian  individually, 
for  we  are  all  apostles  to  the  Gentiles,  though,  alas ! 
we  are  not  all  Pauls. 

V.  15.  So,  as  much  as  in  me  is.  The  mean- 
ing of  Paul's  words  seems  to  be :  So  far  as  it  depends 
on  me,  or,  as  for  my  part,  I  am  ready ;  my  only  restric- 
tion is,  not  the  want  of  a  willing  and  ready  spirit,  but 
the  want  of  opportunity.  At  Rome  also,  Paul 
was  just  as  ready  and  willing  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  unconverted   and   cultured   people   of  Rome  as 


Chapter  I.  79 


elsewhere.  He  was  not  ashamed  of  this  gospel  in 
any  community  or  before  any  audience,  however 
influential  or  cultured.  The  words,  "  to  you  that  are 
at  Rome,"  must  not  be  restricted  to  the  Christians 
whom  Paul  was  addressing;  the  learned  and  the 
noble  who  knew  little,  or  nothing,  of  the  gospel,  and 
who  might,  perhaps,  care  nothing  for  it,  are  especially 
meant,  though  he  includes  all  as  one  population. 
Several  years  afterward  when  Paul  did  actually  preach 
the  gospel  to  Caesar's  household  he  seemed  to  have 
won  some  of  these  noble  ones  (Phil.  iv.  22). 


8o  Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


II. 

THE  DOCTRINE  ANNOUNCED. 

Justification  by  grace  through  faith..    Vs.  i6,  17.) 

Having  presented  his  heart-felt  salutations  to  the 
Christians  at  Rome,  and  having  in  the  prefatory  state- 
ments which  we  have  just  considered  established 
between  himself  and  them  agreeable  relations,  Paul 
proceeds  in  a  natural  and  informal  manner  to  the 
fundamental  theme  of  his  epistle:  "The  gospel  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that 
believeth,"  or,  justification  by  grace  through  faith  in 
Christ. 

V.  16 : — For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ :  for 
it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believ- 
eth ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek. 

V.  16.  The   gospel    of   Christ,    The    Revised 

Version  omits  the  words  "of  Christ."  They  are  not 
essential  to  the  sense,  for  the  word  "gospel"  was 
already  understood  to  mean  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and 
besides  the  whole  of  what  here  follows  makes  the 
meaning  very  clear.  It  is  the  power  of  God, 
Not  a  power  outside  of  God  and  which  God  uses  in 
order  to  save  man ;  but  a  power,  or  influence,  or  prin- 
ciple, which  proceeds  from  God  into  man,  making 
him  safe  and  sound.  To  every  one  that  believ- 
eth. Two  questions  here  arise  :  First.  To  every  one 
who  believes  what  ?  And  the  answer  may  be  stated 
in  a  twofold  manner:  (i)  Believes  the  story  or  glad 
tidings  of  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus ; 


Chapter  I.  8i 


V.  17: — For  therein  is  the  righteousness  of  God  revealed 
from  faith  to  faith :  as  it  is  written,  The  just  shall  live  by 
faith. 

(2)  Believes  God's  righteousness,  which  is  revealed  in 
Christ.     Second  question,  What  is  it  to  believe  ?     It  is 
not  simply  to  assent  intellectually  to  the  truth  of  a 
proposition;   for  one  may,  of  course,  believe  in  this 
sense  that  light  illuminates,  and  yet  be  so  situated  as 
not  to  be  illuminated  by  it ;  so  may  one  believe  that 
the  historical  story  of  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection 
of  Jesus,  is  true,  and  yet  have  such  an  attitude  toward 
that   story  or  revelation  as   not   to   be   saved  by  it. 
Before   the   light   can   lighten   the   window  must  be 
opened ;  before  the  gospel,  or  Christ,  or  the  righteous- 
ness of  God,  can  become  a  curse-removing  and  health- 
giving  power  to  me,  I  must  open  the  door  of  my  soul 
and  admit  it.    And  to  open  thus  my  soul's  door  is  to 
exercise  faith.       To    the  Jew  Rrst,     To  the   Jew 
first  in  respect  to  time.     The  gospel  was  made  known 
first  to  the  Jews,  and  then  by  Jewish  preachers  to  the 
Gentiles.    And  also  to  the  Greeks,    By  Greeks 
are  here  meant  all  who  are  not  Jews  ;  it  was  a  more 
respectful  term  than  Gentiles,  which  in  the  Jewish 
use  was  generally  equivalent  simply  to  heathen,  and 
for  this  reason  Paul  probably  here  employs  it ;  the 
gospel  was  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  also  unto 
those  who  regarded  themselves  as  the  most  learned 
and  cultured. 

V.  17.  For  therein.  In  the  gospel.  The  gospel 
is  itself  the  revelation  of  the  righteousness  of  God. 
The  righteousness  of  God,  Not  lAe  righteousness 
of,  nor  a  righteousness  of,  but  God's  righteousness,  as 
distinguished  here,  perhaps,  from  his  wrath  mentioned 
6 


82  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

in  the  next  verse.  But  what  is  meant  by  God's  right- 
eousness ?  It  can  not  refer  to  God's  act,  as  a  judge, 
of  justifying  or  acquitting  the  condemned  sinner,  for 
that  act  is  not  revealed  in  the  gospel  as  having  been 
performed  or  as  being  performed.  It  refers  rather  to 
the  willingness  or  disposition  of  God  to  remove  his 
wrath  from  over  the  sinner  on  condition  of  faith,  or  of 
what  is  called  believing  in  the  preceding  verse.  This 
aspect  of  God's  character  was  scarcely  known  to  the 
Gentiles ;  it  was  fully  revealed  to  the  Jews  in  the  Old 
Testament,  but  the  Jews  had  so  far  mutilated  the  reve- 
lation as  to  substitute  legal  works  for  faith,  or  as  to 
depend  on  the  covenant  relation  in  which  they  stood  to 
God  as  a  people,  independently  of  any  consideration 
of  personal  character  either  on  their  own  part  or  God's. 
The  gospel  is  a  revelation  of  God's  righteousness  to 
every  one  that  believeth.  A  revelation  to  whom? 
To  every  one  who  has  heard  the  gospel  as  presented 
either  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament ;  but  the  revela- 
tion is  of  benefit  only  to  those  who  believe. 

Revealed  from  faith  to  faith.  Although  the 
gospel  is  a  revelation  to  every  man  of  God's  righteous- 
ness, it  is  a  revelation  which  effects  salvation  only  in 
the  case  of  those  who  believe ;  that  is,  its  efficacy  pro- 
ceeds on  man's  part  from  man's  faith,  and  it  proceeds 
onward  to  yet  higher  degrees  of  faith.  Faith  does 
not  cease  with  being  the  mere  act  of  opening  the  door 
of  the  soul  to  the  light  or  revelation  which  is  called 
the  gospel,  but  it  becomes  ever  thereafter  our  state  or 
character;  we  live  with  open  door,  and  the  light 
which  is  life  abides  in  us.  This  teaching  should  not 
have  been  strange  or  new  to  Paul's  Jewish  readers, 
for,  as  he  reminds  them,  their  own  prophet  said  that 
tke  just  shall  live  by  faith;  that  is,  the  sinner  whom 


Chapter  I.  83 


Paul  here  views  as  already  made  righteous  by  his  faith 
shall  also  live  by  his  faith.  Hab.  ii.  4.  'The  life 
which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me." 
Gal.  ii.  20. 


84  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

III. 
THE  DOCTRINE  EXPOUNDED. 

First  Proposition :  The  universal  need  of  salvation,  (i.  i8 — iii.. 
20),  in  the  case  of  both  Jews  and  Gentiles. 

(i)     The  Gentiles. 

The  apostle  having  briefly  stated  his  fundamental 
theme,  viz.:  that  the  gospel  as  a  revelation  of  God's 
righteousness  is  God's  power  unto  salvation,  proceeds 
in  the  next  place  to  develop  the  argument  whereby 
the  thesis  is  to  be  established.  He  first  shows  the 
condition  of  the  Gentile  world  from  which  it  appears 
evident  that  the  Gentiles  had  not  attained  into  right- 
eousness by  glorifying  God  as  God,  etc.,  but  that  on 
the  other  hand  they  had  really  lost  the  knowledge  of 
God,  and  instead  of  being  righteous  in  his  sight,  they 
had  proceeded  from  bad  to  worse.  Hence  their  need 
of  that  salvation  which  is  revealed  in  the  gospel. 

V.  18: — For  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven 
against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  hold 
the  truth  in  unrighteousness. 

V.  18.  V^or,  The  force  of  this  word  seems  to  be-: 
The  gospel  is  a  revelation  of  the  saving  power  or 
righteousness  of  God,  and  such  a  revelation  the  world 
needs,  for  there  is  also  an  abiding  revelation  of  his 
wrath,  which  Paul  unfolds  in  a  fearful  manner  in  the 
following  verses.  If  he  had  discussed  this  revelation 
before  stating  his  doctrine  of  righteousness  or  salva- 
tion by  faith,  the  order  of  his  words  might  have 
been :  As  there  is  thus  a  revelation  of  God's  wrath  in 


Chapter  I.  85 


the  human  conscience  so  is  there  a  revelation  of  his 
righteousness  or  saving  power  in  the  gospel. 

The  Wrath  of  God,  As  the  article  is  omitted 
in  verse  17  from  "righteousness"  so  here  it  is 
omitted,  in  the  Greek,  from  "wrath;"  God's  right- 
eousness, God's  wrath.  Is  revealed.  The  univer- 
sal conscience  of  man  testifies  that  he  is  not  right 
with  God,  and  that  God  is  not  and  can  not  be  pleased 
with  him  as  he  is.  The  heathen  know  this,  and  the 
fact  that  they  do  know  it,  and  yet  have  not  the  gospel, 
that  other  revelation  of  God,  makes  their  condition, 
if  possible,  only  the  more  pitiable.  The  crowning 
distinction  of  the  Scripture  is,  not  that  it  reveals 
God's  intense  disapprobation  of  sin  in  man,  for  that 
is  revealed  in  man's  own  heart ;  but  its  crowning  dis- 
tinction is  that  it  reveals  God's  righteousness  in 
Christ  as  a  power  unto  salvation  from  sin  and  all  of 
sin's  consequences.  F'rom  heaven,  "  Righteous- 
ness is  revealed  in  the  gospel,  wrath  is  revealed  from 
heaven."  It  required  the  incarnation  of  God  in 
Christ  on  earth  to  fully  reveal  his  righteousness,  but 
his  wrath  he  revealed  without  becoming  incarnate, 
from  his  throne,  as  it  were  in  heaven.  Paul  conceives 
the  revelation  of  wrath  as  preceding  in  point  of  time 
the  revelation  of  the  gospel.  The  recognition  of  sin 
is  the  recognition  of  wrath,  and  the  recognition  of 
wrath  is  the  necessary  prelude  of  the  gospel.  See 
the  frequent  mention  of  wrath  in  this  epistle,  chapter 
ii.  5,  8;  iii.  5;  iv.  15;  v.  9 ;  ix.  22;  sometimes  it  is 
spoken  of  as  being  against  sin,  sometimes  against 
the  sinner.  "  In  God,  who  is  the  living  good,  wrath 
appestrs,"  says  Godet,  "  as  the  holy  disapprobation  of 
evil,  and  the  firm  resolve  to  destroy  it.  But  it  is  false 
to  say,  as  is  often   done,  that  this  divine  emotion 


86  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

applies  only  to  the  evil  doer."  As  the  sinner  identi- 
fies himself  with  sin  he  himself  becomes  the  object 
of  the  wrath  and  all  its  consequences.  And  Abbott : 
"  The  truth  of  God's  wrath  can  no  more  be  eliminated 
from  Scripture  without  unraveling  its  whole  texture 
than  can  the  truth  of  his  love.  They  are  indeed  the 
light  and  shade  of  the  same  quality  in  him.  Love 
has  its  wrath,  and  the  intensity  of  the  indignation 
against  evil  and  falsehood,  will  and  must  be  exactly 
proportioned  to  the  intensity  of  the  love  for  goodness 
and  truth." 

Ungodliness  and  unrighteousness.  Ungod- 
liness is  impiety,  or  irreverence  toward  God;  un- 
righteousness is  immorality.  The  ungodly  is  one 
who  is  in  opposition  to  the  being  and  character  of 
God,  the  unrighteous  is  one  who  lives  in  opposition 
to  the  will  of  God.  The  latter  is  the  more  general 
term,  the  former  is  the  stronger.  Hold  the  truth 
in  unrighteousness.  This  describes  the  particular 
class  of  men  whom  Paul  had  in  mind,  to  wit :  the 
Gentiles,  whom  he  at  once  proceeds  to  further  de- 
scribe. The  sin  here  charged  against  the  Gentiles  is 
not  the  sin  simply  of  living  unrighteously,  or  immor- 
ally, but  of  having  unrighteously  held  back  or  re- 
pressed the  truth — ^^that  is,  the  knowledge  of  God 
revealed  in  the  conscience.  They  have  wickedly  held 
back  the  truth  by  not  allowing  it  to  have  on  them  its 
legitimate  effect;  in  other  words,  by  resisting  it. 
Having  repressed  the  light,  they  do  the  deeds  of 
darkness  described  in  the  following  verses. 

V.  19.  Because.  The  force  of  this  word,  and  the 
meaning  of  the  verse,  may  be  exhibited  thus :  That 
the  Gentiles  are  guilty  of  thus  repressing  the  truth  is 


Chapter  I.  87 


V.  19 : — Because  that  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  mani- 
fest in  them  ;  for  God  hath  shewed  it  unto  them. 

V.  20 : — For  the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation 
of  the  world  are  clearly  seen^  being  understood  by  the  things 
that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead ;  so  that 
they  are  without  excuse. 

evident  because  of  the  two  existing  facts  which  Paul 
proceeds  to  state :  {a)  They  have  the  truth,  that  is  so 
much  of  the  knowledge  of  God  as  may  be  known  by 
men  by  the  light  of  what  may  be  called  nature,  for 
God  has  thus  shown  or  revealed  it  unto  them ;  {b) 
they  do  not  live  in  accordance  with  this  truth  or 
knowledge  which  they  have.  They  have  not  only 
lived  wickedly,  but  by  thus  living  they  have  pre- 
vented the  truth  from  asserting  itself  in  them  and 
developing  into  yet  greater  knowledge.  If  any  man 
would  know  the  truth  let  him  do  so  much  of  the  truth 
as  he  already  knows.  John  iii.  21 ;  vii.  17.  But  from 
him  that  hath  and  doth  not  use  it,  shall  be  taken  away 
that  which  he  hath. 

That  which  may  he  known  of  God,  So 
much  as  may  be  known  by  men  as  men  without  a 
special  supernatural  revelation,  though  this  knowl- 
edge also  came  to  them  from  God.  Paul  states  in  the 
next  verse  in  what  this  knowledge  consists. 

V.  20.  The  invisible  things.  By  which  are 
meant  God's  eternal  power  and  Godhead,  as  stated 
further  on.  Paul  speaks  of  these  as  being  seen — that 
is,  as  being  perceived  w4th  the  mind's  eye.  They  are 
called  invisible  in  contrast  with  the  visible  images  of 
God  which  the  Gentiles  made,  verse  23,  or  perhaps  in 
contrast  with  the  visible  universe,  or  things  made,  by 
which  the  invisible  things  are  revealed  to  the  human 


88  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

understanding.  Prom  the  creation.  Not  invisi- 
ble since  the  creation,  but  manifested  to  the  mind's 
eye  ever  since  the  creation,  and  manifested  as  stated 
in  the  next  clause  by  the  visible  works  of  God.  The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God;  the  earth  also 
declares  his  glory.  His  eternal  power  and  God- 
head, When  man  views  nature  power  as  exhibited 
therein  is  that  which  most  quickly  arrests  his  atten- 
tion. One  of  the  oldest  names  of  the  divine  Being, 
El  or  Elohim,  is  a  word  which  means  the  Powerful 
One.  Nor  is  he  presented  in  nature  simply  as  the 
Almighty,  but  as  one  whose  power  is  employed  with 
intelligence  and  benevolence.  Paul  says  that  this 
power  which  the  All-powerful  One  manifests  in 
nature  is  presented  as  eternal — that  is,  it  dates  be- 
yond, and  is  the  cause  of  all  second  causes ;  and  hence 
there  is  in  the  first  place  but  one  cause.  By  Godhead 
is  meant  divinity,  or  that  essential  element  of  God's 
being  and  nature  which  distinguishes  him  from  all 
other  beings  and  constitutes  him  God.  Paul  says 
that  God  is  thus  clearly  seen,  being  manifested  by  his 
works ;  not  merel}^  see7i,  as  a  brute  may  also  see  nature, 
but  clearly  see7i,  seen  by  intelligent  mental  discernment. 
Physical  nature  is  presented  to  man's  physical  eye  ; 
the  invisible  spiritual  God  presents  himself  by  means 
of  nature  to  man's  spiritual  eye ;  and  thus  spirit  be- 
comes visible  to  spirit.  And  this  revelation  of  him- 
self God  has  addressed  to  all  men,  so  that  the  Gentiles 
are  without  excuse.  If  they  had  used  this  knowledge 
as  they  should  have  done,  all  would  have  been  well 
with  them  in  their  relation  to  God,  as  Paul  says  in  chap- 
ter ii.  7 ;  but  as  it  is,  their  knowledge  is  far  in  advance 
of  their  morality,  both  their  hearts  and  their  lives  be- 
ing wofully  wrong,  as  he  proceeds  to  show. 


Chapter  I.  89 


V.  21 : — Because  thaty  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified 
him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful ;  but  became  vain  in 
their  imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened. 

V.  21.  Because,  Paul  now  goes  on  to  show  how 
the  Gentiles  held  the  truth  in  unrighteousness ;  or,  in 
other  words,  how  they  had  repressed  or  obstructed  the 
natural  operation  of  the  above  mentioned  knowledge 
of  God  by  their  wickedness ;  and  hence  why  it  was 
that  the  wrath  of  God  was  revealed  against  them,  to 
wit :  because  knowing  God  they  glorified  him  not  as 
God,  etc.  It  is  worth  while  to  notice  here  that  Paul's 
history  of  the  Gentiles  in  this  respect  is  the  history  of 
mankind  generally.  It  is  not  ignorance  that  causes  a 
human  soul  to  be  "lost;"  for  all  men,  even  the 
heathen,  know  better  than  they  do;  and  hence  a  large 
function  of  the  Christian,  and  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try especially,  is  to  persuade  men.  But  by  failure  to 
use  the  knowledge  it  may  be  lost ;  the  eye  of  man's 
spirit  to  which  God  as  a  spirit  addresses  himself  may 
become  darkened  or  blinded,  so  that  he  can  not  be 
clearly  seen.  The  remaining  part  of  this  verse  de- 
scribes the  first  step  in  the  awful  estrangement  from 
God  which  the  apostle  depicts. 

They  glorMed  Mm  not  as  God.  The  heath- 
ens worshiped,  and  they  worshiped  God ;  but  they  did 
not  worship  him  as  God,  as  a  being  of  divine  spiritual 
perfections,  but  rather  as  a  reflection  or  deification 
of  themselves.  Neither  were  thankful.  They 
did  not  recognize  and  worship  him  as  the  author  and 
giver  of  all  good — to  do  which  is  the  best  safeguard 
against  vain  imaginations  and  a  darkened  heart. 

Vain  in  their  imaginations.  Empty  in  their 
reasonings  as  to  what  sort  of  being  God  is  and  how  to 


90  The  Kpistlk  to  the  Romans. 

V.  22 : — Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools. 

worship  him,  using  various  idols  or  images  which 
were  merely  empty  nothings.  Their  foolish  heart 
was  darkened.  Such  reasonings  and  practices 
alwaj^s  have  the  effect  of  gradually  excluding  so  much 
of  God's  light  as  is  already  in  the  heart,  and  then  the 
heart  is  darkened.  The  word  "  foolish  "  here  means 
stupid,  senseless,  mindless,  as  when  we  say  one  has  no 
mind  for  poetry,  or  mathematics,  etc.,  meaning  that 
he  has  no  relish,  no  talent,  or  aptitude,  for  such  matter. 
So  the  heart,  failing  to  practice  the  truth,  loses  its 
aptitude  or  ability  to  understand  the  truth,  and  then 
soon  loses  the  truth  itself,  and  thus  becomes  darkened. 

V.  22.  Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  etc. 

Pretending  or  alleging  themselves  to  be  wise.  This 
was  self-conceit.  Pools.  The  word  here  means 
dull,  destitute  of  what  we  call  quickness  of  wit,  or 
keenness  of  perception  or  mental  vision.  It  seems  to 
be  a  law  of  our  being  that  this  persistent  pretense  to 
superior  wisdom  should  produce  in  us  dullness  of  wit. 
As  it  is  only  the  humble  who  shall  be  exalted,  so 
revelations  are  made  only  to  "babes."  It  is  a  wise 
divine  law.  "I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  .  .  .  be- 
cause thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  [so-called] 
wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto 
babes"  (Matt.  xi.  25).  But  Paul  is  not  here  speaking 
of  the  Greek  philosophy  in  general  or  absolutely,  but 
with  respect  to  idolatry  in  particular,  and  he  means  to 
say  that  all  the  wisdom  of  the  sages  did  not  prevent . 
the  Greeks  and  other  cultivated  nations  from  becom- 
ing the  most  debased  in  their  religion,  and  that  this 
pretense   of  wisdom   in   regard   to   God  and  divine 


Chapter  I.  91 


V.  23 : — And  changed  the  glory  of  the  uncorruptible  God 
into  an  image  made  like  to  corruptible  man,  aad  to  birds,  and 
fourfooted  beasts,  and  creeping  things. 

V.  24 : —  Wherefore  God  also  gave  them,  up  to  uncleanness, 
through  the  lusts  of  their  own  hearts,  to  dishonour  their  own 
bodies  between  themselves. 

things  was  itself  one  of  the  chief  initial  causes  of 
their  debasement.  For  one  to  follow  the  conceits  or 
"vain  imaginations"  of  one's  own  or  of  another's 
reason  instead  of  the  revelation  which  God  has  made 
in  his  word  or  in  nature  is  to  prove  that  one  is  foolish 
to  begin  with,  and  from  this  folly  it  is  not  far  to  dull- 
ness, or  bluntness  of  mental  and  spiritual  perception. 

V.  23.  Changed  .  .  .  into.  The  meaning  is 
that  they  represented  the  incorruptible  God,  of  glori- 
ous perfections,  by  means  of  images  of  man  and  even 
of  beasts;  such,  by  reason  of  their  dullness,  had  their 
conception  of  God  become.  Man  was  made  originally 
in  the  image  of  God,  but  he  has  come  to  such  a  state 
that  he  changes  God  into  the  image  of  man,  even  of 
the  lowest  beasts.  Man  has  made  himself  to  be  his 
own  standard  of  perfection,  and  he  can  not  rise  above 
it. 

V.  24.  Wherefore  also.  The  Revised  Version,  on 
the  authority  of  several  of  the  ancient  manuscripts, 
omits  the  word  "  also,"  but  on  the  authority  of  many 
others,  and  of  the  sense  of  the  passage,  it  ought  to  be 
retained.  There  were  two  renunciations :  (i)  The  Gen- 
tiles gave  God  up.  (2)  On  this  account  God  also  gave 
up  the  Gentiles.  To  uncleanness  through  the 
lusts.  Or  rather,  God  gave  them  up  in  accordance 
with  the  lusts  or  earnest  or  evil  desires  of  their  hearts 


^2  The  BPISTI.E  to  the  Romans. 


V.  25  :—  Who  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  wor- 
shiped and  served  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator,  who  is 
blessed  for  ever.    Amen. 


to  uncleanness.  The  abyss  toward  which  they  were 
tending  was  one  of  uncleanness,  which  Paul  describes 
in  horrid  detail  in  the  following  verses ;  and  God  posi- 
tively removed  from  them  his  withholding  hand  and 
let  them  go ;  his  Spirit  and  providence  would  strive 
with  them  no  longer.  By  this  deliberate  resolve  of 
God  their  sins  shall  become  the  means  of  their  pun- 
ishment, and  thereby  perhaps  ultimately  of  their  res- 
toration. Hence,  while  this  was  doubtless  the  revela- 
tion of  God's  wrath  referred  to  in  verse  18,  it  was  a 
revelation  of  such  wrath  as  looked  beyond  the  inflic- 
tion of  misery  to  restoration,  for  even  in  wrath  he  re- 
members mercy.  After  reaching  a  certain  point  of 
progress  in  sin,  the  only  way  for  their  dull  and 
darkened  soul  to  learn  the  evil  of  sin  was  to  experi- 
ence it  by  indulging  sin  in  the  utmost  excess.  At 
last  it  biteth  like  an  adder;  and  then  might  they 
listen  to  the  gospel  message  of  healing.  It  is  to 
be  observed,  therefore,  that  this  revelation  or  in- 
fliction of  God's  wrath  here  referred  to  is  such  as 
takes  place  in  this  world,  had  indeed  already  taken 
place  in  Paul's  time,  and  is  ever  doing  so.  But  this 
wrath  ultimately  becomes  the  wrath  of  "the  day 
of  wrath"  mentioned  in  ii.  5;  and  all  along  through 
human  history,  and  at  the  last,  it  is  a  righteous  and 
holy  wrath. 

V.  25.  ^ho.  This  word  here  means  "those  who," 
and  the  reference  is  back  to  verses  23,  24.  God  gave 
up  to  uncleanness,  etc.,  those,  I  say,  who  changed  the 


Chapter  I.  95 


V.  26 : — For  this  cause  God  gave  them  up  unto  vile  affec- 
tions :  for  even  their  women  did  change  the  natural  use  into 
that  which  is  against  nature. 

glory  or  truth  concerning  God,  or  the  true  idea  of  God, 
into  the  lie  just  mentioned ;  that  is,  the  images  made  like 
unto  man  and  beasts.  **  Is  there  not  a  lie  in  my  right 
hand?"  Isa.  xliv.  20;  that  is,  is  there  not  an  idol  or 
image  in  my  right  hand?  See  also  Jer.  xiii.  25;  xvi. 
19.  The  creature  more  than  the  Creator.  As 
they  had  changed  or  travestied  the  truth  of  God  into  a 
lie,  so  it  was  ''  the  lie,"  or  idol  in  the  form  of  a  creature, 
which  they  worshiped ;  the  word  which  Paul  uses,  as 
well  as  the  context,  shows  that  his  meaning  is,  they  did 
not  worship  God  at  all,  but  the  creature  instead  of 
God.  Who  is  blessed  forever.  Who  is  praised 
forever,  notwithstanding  this  conduct  and  condition 
of  the  Gentiles;  he  is  not  affected  by  the  dishonor 
which  t/iej/  cast  upon  him,  but  dwells  in  the  midst  ot 
the  praises  of  his  people  and  of  angels  forever.  Paul 
frequently  utters  such  heart-felt  doxologies  as  this. 
See  vii.  25;  ix.  5;  xi.  33-36;  Eph.  iii.  21. 

V.  26.  Por  this  cause.  Notice  the  progress  of 
the  Gentiles  in  sin:  i.  They  held  back  the  truth  in 
unrighteousness  ;  2.  They  did  not  glorify  God  as  God, 
but  became  fruitless  in  their  disputations  and  dark- 
ened in  their  hearts  (verse  21) ;  3.  They  lost  sight  of 
God  and  substituted  the  worship  of  idols  (verses  23- 
25) ;  4.  Having  sinned  thus  against  God,  they  are 
given  up  to  sin  against  themselves  in  the  vilest  man- 
ner. "The  sin  against  God's  nature  entails  as  its 
penalty  sin  against  man's  own  nature,"  which  is  the 
meet    recompense  of  their  error  in   repressing  the 


94  'I^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  27 : — And  likewise  also  the  men,  leaving  the  natural  use 
of  the  woman,  burned  in  their  lust  one  toward  another;  men 
with  men  working  that  which  is  unseemly,  and  receiving  in 
themselves  that  recompense  of  their  error  which  was  meet. 

V.  28 : — And  even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their 
knowledge,  God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  m,ind,  to  do 
those  things  which  are  not  convenient ; 

truth  at  the  outset  and  proceeding  in  the  subsequent 
steps  of  sin.     See  the  note  on  verse  24. 

V.  27.  And  likewise  also  the  men.  A  most 
unnatural  sensual  abomination  is  referred  to  in  this, 
such  as  was  foreign  even  to  beasts.  We  have  other 
ancient  evidence  than  Paul's  of  the  prevalence  among 
the  Gentiles,  particularly  the  Greeks,  of  this  revolt- 
ing sin.  It  seems  indeed  to  have  prevailed  to  such  an 
extent  among  various  nations  of  antiquity  as  to  re- 
quire special  laws  for  its  prevention.  Nor  was  this 
awful  abomination  restricted  to  males,  as  Paul  inti- 
mates in  verse  26. 

V.  28.  Did  not  like  to  retain  God,    Did  not 

think  it  worth  while  to  retain  in  their  mind  such  a 
view  of  God  as  would  cause  them  to  make  his  will 
the  rule  or  law  of  their  conduct,  so  God  on  his  part 
gave  them  over,  etc.  As  they  deliberately  gave  up 
God,  so  God  gave  up  them.  He  honors  those  who 
honor  him;  he  dishonors  those  who  dishonor  him; 
this  is  a  natural  law  in  the  spiritual  world;  both 
natural  and  a  law  because  God  made  it  so,  and  he 
made  it  so  because  he  is  God.  It  is  not  conceivable 
that  he  could  have  made  the  unholy  wholesome. 
A  reprobate  mind.  They  did  not  approbate 
God,   as   the  words  "did    not  like  to  retain,"  etc., 


Chapter  I.  95 


V.  29 : — Being  filled  with  all  unrighteousness^  fornication, 
wickedness,  covetousness,  maliciousness  ;  full  of  envy,  murder ^ 
debate,  deceit,  malignity ;  whisperers, 

V.  30  -.—Backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud,  boast- 
ers, inventors  of  evil  things,  disobedient  to  parents, 

V.  31 : — Without  understanding,  covenant-breakers,  without 
natural  affection,  implacable,  unmerciful: 

mean.  They  reprobated  God  from  their  knowledge, 
so  God  reprobated  them  unto  themselves.  Having 
refused  to  appreciate  the  knowledge  of  God,  they 
became  incapable  of  appreciating  it.  From  them 
that  have  and  use  not  shall  be  taken  away  that  which 
they  have.  Notice  how  often  Paul  says  God  *'  gave 
them  over,"  because  of  their  apostacy  from  him ; 
being  merciful  and  holy,  what  else  could  he  do  ?  I^et 
them  learn  by  experience ;  let  them  see  for  them- 
selves whither  the  road  will  lead  them. 

Vs.  29-31.  In  these  verses  Paul  further  describes 
the  reprobate  condition  of  the  Gentiles  of  whom  he 
is  writing.  It  is  a  fearful  picture,  but  true  to  the 
original — a  heaping  of  words  of  blackest  import  one 
upon  another.  Any  one  may  see  for  himself  that  it 
is  not  in  the  slightest  degree  overdrawn  by  reading 
such  pagan  authors  as  Cicero  and  Tacitus,  and  espe- 
cially Juvenal ;  or  Gibbon's  Rome,  chap,  ii.,  Farrar's 
Early  Days  of  Christianity,  ch.  i.,  Farrar's  Life  and 
Times  of  Paul,  Conybeare  and  Howson's  Life  and 
Epistles  of  Paul,  Lecky's  History  of  European 
Morals,  Herbremann's  Business  Life  in  Rome,  and 
many  other  books.  Froude,  the  English  historian 
and  essayist,  says :  "  Within  historical  times  the  earth 
has  never  seen — ^let  us  hope  it  never  may  see  again — 
such  a  condition  of  human  society  as  prevailed  in  the 


96  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Roman  empire  during  the  centuries  which  elapsed 
between  the  crucifixion  and  the  conversion  of  Con- 
stantine." — Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects.  Paul  was 
a  constant  eye-witness  of  such  things  as  he  describes 
in  this  chapter ;  and  even  as  he  was  writing  these 
words  he  was  in  a  Roman  city  where  a  thousand 
public  harlots  were  kept  at  the  public  expense,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  private  ones;  and  to  "  Corinthianize  " 
had  become  another  name  for  harlotry.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  clean  and  sensitive  soul  of  Paul  did, 
under  the  influence  of  such  daily  observation  of  the 
life  about  him,  make  his  utterances  vehement.  Yes, 
the  doctrine  of  being  saved  by  doing  right  is  good  as 
a  theory,  but  how  are  the  Gentiles  to  be  induced,  or 
rather  enabled  to  do  right?  Not  otherwise  than  by 
dying  and  being  made  over  again  into  new  creatures,, 
having  in  them  Christ  as  their  life. 

V.  30.  Haters  of  God,  The  Revised  Version, 
following  the  classical  usage,  the  lexicons,  and  several 
critical  commentaries  renders  this  word  (theosteurgeio) 
^ated  of  God^  or  hateful  to  God;  so  also  the  Vulgate, 
Wiclif's  version  of  1380,  and  the  Rheims  of  1582. 
But  the  Tyndale  of  1534,  Cranmer,  1539,  Geneva, 
1557,  and  the  King  James  versions,  and  several 
ancient  patristic  authorities,  and  many  moderns, 
render  it  haters  of  God.  This  makes  the  better  sense, 
and  harmonizes  better  with  the  current  of  the  apostle's 
thought.  All  the  classes  mentioned  were  extremely 
odious  to  God,  but  all  were  not  to  the  same  extent 
haters  of  God;  some  were  indifferent,  some  were 
more  or  less  criminally  ignorant,  while  others  were 
avowed  haters  of  God ;  this  was  the  climax  of  the 
ascending  scale. 


Chapter  II. 


97 


V.  32 : —  WAOy  knowing  the  judgment  of  God,  that  they 
which  commit  such  things  are  worthy  of  death,  not  only  do 
the  same,  but  have  pleasure  in  them  that  do  them. 

V.  32.  W^ho,  Those  who  ;  including  not  a  distinct 
and  lost  class,  but  all  who  fall  under  the  description 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  verses.  Knowing  the 
Judgment  of  God,  His  judgment  was,  that  those 
who  do  such  things  are  worthy  of  death,  and  this 
they  knew.  Not  only  do,  .  .  .  but  Implying  that 
it  is  even  worse  to  coolly  approve  or  applaud  others 
who  do  such  things  than  it  is  to  do  them  ourselves 
under  the  pressure  of  passion  or  other  temptation. 

(2)   The  Jews.     (Chap.  ii.  1-29.) 

Paul,  having  thus  dwelt  upon  the  awful  pollution 
and  iniquity  of  the  Gentiles  for  the  purpose  of  show- 
ing that  there  is  absolutely  no  hope  for  them  on  any 
other  theory  of  salvation  than  the  one  which  he  had 
announced  (i.  16,  17),  proceeds  now  to  show  that  the 
Jews  also,  on  any  other  theory,  are  in  a  no  less  hope- 
less condition.  The  facts  that  the  Jews  as  a  nation 
were  God's  chosen  people,  and  that  they  differed  so 
widely  from  the  Gentiles  in  their  religion,  do  not  alter 
in  any  way  the  truth  of  this  statement.  They  rather  in- 
deed make  the  matter  only  so  much  the  worse  for  the 
Jews ;  for  God  does  not  save  a  man  because  he  has 
such  and  such  an  amount  of  knowledge,  or  a  religion 
of  such  and  such  sort.  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons ;  he  deals  with  all  on  the  same  principles ;  and 
if  a  man,  or  any  number  of  persons,  have  much 
knowledge  and  a  good  religion  and  do  not  live  accord- 
ingly, it  is  so  much  the  worse  for  him.  And  all  the 
while  Paul  keeps  before  us  the  fact  that  the  outer  life, 


9.8  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  II.,  V.  I : — Therefore  thou  art  inexcusable,  O  man, 
whosoever  thou  art  that  judgest :  for  wherein  thou  judgest 
another,  thou  condemnest  thyself;  for  thou  that  judgest  doest 
the  same  things. 

V.  2 : — But  we  are  sure  that  the  judgment  of  God  is  accord- 
ing to  truth  against  them  which  commit  such  things. 

our  conduct,  is  not  our  life  in  the  true  sense,  only  in 
so  far  as  it  is  the  outflow  of  the  life  within  us,  and 
from  which  alone  it  receives  any  moral  quality.  If 
this  inner  life  or  principle,  whether  in  Gentile  or  Jew, 
is  of  the  sort  that  God  approves,  it  is  well ;  but  if  it 
is  not,  it  counts  for  nothing  at  all,  no  matter  how 
formally  religious  the  outward  conduct  may  be. 

V.  I.  Therefore  thou  art  inexcusable,  O 
man.  The  Jew  had  doubtless  listened  with  much  at- 
tention and  approbation  to  what  Paul  had  said  about 
the  Gentiles ;  but  now  he  turns  upon  the  Jew  himself 
and  tells  him  that  he  does  the  same  things  which  he 
so  cordially  condemns  in  the  Gentiles.  Whosoever 
thou  art.  That  is,  any  Jew  who,  being  guilty  him- 
self, judges  the  Gentiles  as  if  he  were  not  guilty.  The 
words  are  no  less  applicable  to  all  men,  whether  Jews 
or  Gentiles,  in  their  relation  with  one  another. 

V.  2.  But  we  are  sure.  The  Revised  Version 
changes  the  word  dut  into  and,  which  makes  a  good 
sense,  which  is  this :  You  condemn  others  for  doing 
certain  things ;  and  God's  judgment  in  regard  to  these 
things  is  according  to  truth,  as  you  will  admit  since  it 
is  the  same  as  yours ;  therefore,  as  you  do  these  things 
you  ought  to  expect  God  to  condemn  you.  If  we  retain 
the  word  d7it,  the  reasoning  is  this :  You  condemn, 
and  you   admit    that   God    condemns,   these  things 


Chapter  II.  99 


V.  3 : — And  thinkest  thou  this^  O  man,  that  judgest  them 
which  do  such  things,  and  doest  the  sam,e,  that  thou  shalt  escape 
the  jiidgm.ent  of  God? 

which  the  Gentiles  do.  You  think,  however,  that, 
although  you  may  do  the  same  things,  you  will  be 
judged  by  a  different  standard  from  the  Gentiles ;  but 
such  is  not  the  case,  God's  judgment  being  in  each 
case  according  to  truth  or  equity.  This  seems  to  me 
to  be  the  better  of  the  two  senses,  as  it  is  more  in 
harmony  with  the  apostle's  thought ;  his  purpose  is 
to  show  that  Jews  also  are  the  objects  of  God's  dis- 
approbation, and  this  he  could  not  do  unless  it  were 
settled  at  the  outset  that  they  are  weighed  in  the  same 
balance  as  the  Gentiles. 

V.  3.  And  thinkest  thou  this.  This  is  an  in- 
terrogative and  therefore  a  more  vivid  method  of 
affirming  that  God  surely  will  not  approve  in  the  Jew 
that  which  he  condems  in  the  Gentile.  If  the  Jew 
did  these  things,  and  if  the  Jew  was  to  be  dealt  with 
on  the  same  principles  of  equity  as  the  Gentile,  it 
follows  that  the  Jew  also  is  in  need  of  salvation ;  and 
it  further  follows  that  the  Jew's  theory  of  salvation 
by  works  irrespective  of  character  is  a  wrong  one  ; 
and  it  still  further  follows,  therefore,  that  Paul's  own 
doctrine  as  stated  in  chapter  i.  16,  17  is  the  true  one. 
These  are  the  thoughts  which  Paul  has  constantly  in 
mind,  though  his  chief  object  in  this  chapter  is  as 
stated  in  the  last  note. 

V.  4.  Or  despisest  thou,  Paul's  meaning  here 
is:  Or  is  it  possible  that,  instead  of  indulging  the 
illusory  belief  that  you  are  to  be  judged  on  a  different 
principle  from  the  Gentile,  you   really  have  a  con- 


loo  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  4: — Or  despisest  thou  the  riches  of  his  goodness  and  for- 
bearance and  long  suffering ;  not  knowing  that  the  goodness 
of  God  leadeth  thee  to  repentance  ? 

tempt  for  the  riches  of  God's  goodness,  etc.,  and  are 
sinning  against  him  with  a  high  hand  ?  If  this  be  so 
you  are  really  in  a  worse  condition  than  under  the 
other  supposition.  But  one  of  the  two  suppositions  is 
true ;  therefore  in  either  case  you  are  the  objects  of 
God's  disapprobation,  and  hence  in  need  of  a  salvation 
which  your  theory  does  not  furnish. 

Riches  of  bis  goodness.  The  riches  of  his 
goodness  to  you  Jews,  in  choosing  you  as  his  people^ 
in  furnishing  you  with  many  revelations  of  his  char- 
acter and  will^  in  sending  to  you  the  Messiah,  etc. 
God  might  be  good  and  yet  not  have  forbearance  or 
long-suffering.  He  is  good  in  that  he  bestows  bless- 
ings; and  after  he  has  bestowed  blessings  and  we 
requite  him  with  ingratitude  and  rebellion  he  is  for- 
bearing in  that  he  restrains  his  indignation  giving  us 
warnings  and  opportunities  for  repentance ;  and  he  is 
long-suffering  in  that,  though  "  vengeance  is  his,"  he 
inflicts  it  not  under  the  influence  of  passion  or  in  the 
excitement,  as  it  were,  of  the  moment.  All  these  are 
but  manifestations  of  his  love.  Not  knowing.  That 
is,  not  caring  to  know,  utterly  indifferent  to  the  fact 
that  his  goodness  leadeth  thee  to  repentance. 
These  displays  of  God's  love  always  lead  to  repent- 
ance ;  thither  they  always  point.  But  some  men  do 
not  follow,  because  they  will  not,  the  leading  of  love, 
and  hence  some  men  never  attain  to  repentance. 
They  are  as  travelers  on  a  road  with  many  partings 
hither  and  thither,  and  who,  despising  the  guide  posts,, 
reach  not  the  right  destination. 


Chapter  IL  ioi 


V.  5 : — But,  after  thy  hardness  and  impenitent  heart,  treas- 
urest  up  unto  thyself  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  and 
revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God  ; 


V.  5.  'But  after,  etc.  After  here  means  according 
to,  as  it  does  in  such  current  expressions  as  a  painting 
or  other  production  '* after  AB" — that  is,  after  the 
manner  of  A  B,  or  according  to  A  B.  The  sense  is : 
According  to  the  custom,  or  manner,  or  rule,  of  your 
hard  and  impenitent  heart  you  treasure  up  wrath, 
etc.;  it  was  the  custom  of  your  hard-hearted  and  stiff- 
necked  fathers,  and  you  are  doing  as  they  did.  Hard- 
ness is  incapability  of  being  impressed  by  the  displays 
of  God's  love ;  impenitence  is  the  refusal  to  heed  the 
leadings  of  his  goodness,  which  would  have  led  the 
Jew  to  the  change  not  only  of  his  outward  life,  but 
also  to  the  change  of  his  views  in  regard  to  the  way 
to  be  saved,  and  hence  to  the  realization  of  his  condi- 
tion as  a  lost  and  condemned  sinner.  T^reasurest 
Up  unto  (or  for)  thyself  wrath,  God  would  have 
bestowed  upon  them  the  riches  of  his  goodness ;  they 
would  have  it  not,  but  laid  up  for  themselves  the 
riches  of  wrath,  which  "  riches  "  can  consist  in  noth- 
ing more  direful  than  all  the  nameless  woes  implied 
in  the  words  "separation  from  God,"  utter ungodlike- 
ness.  We  feel  an  infinitesimal  fragment  of  it,  now 
and  then  when,  realizing  keenly  that  we  are  impure, 
we  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  pure.  And  this 
is  a  law,  the  outflow  of  the  ver}-  nature  of  God. 
Against  the  day  of  wrath  is  the  same  as  in 
the  day  of  wrath;  the  day  of  wrath  is,  as  it 
were,  the  place  in  which  the  impenitent  store 
up  their  treasures  or  riches  of  wrath.  Paul  does 
not    mention    what    day    it    is,  whether    the    epoch 


102         The  Epistlk  to  the  Romans. 

V.  6 : —  Who  will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds  : 

of  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Jews  by  the  Romans, 
or  the  day  of  the  final  general  judgment ;  his  mind 
is  on  the  fact  rather  than  the  particular  time. 
The  righteous  judgment  of  God  will  at  that  time 
be  revealed  upon  the  impenitent  as  not  hitherto, 
and  it  will  also  be  revealed  as  righteous;  he  does 
nothing  unrighteously. 

V.  6.  Who  will  render.  In  opposition  to  the 
vain  belief  of  the  Jews  that  God  would  judge  them 
on  a  different  principle  from  that  on  which  he  would 
judge  the  Gentiles,  Paul  here  plainly  affirms  that  God 
will  judge,  or  render  to,  every  man,  whether  Jew  or 
heathen,  on  precisely  the  same  principle — that  is^ 
according  to  their  deeds,  or  lives,  or  character,  all  of 
which  expressions  amount  to  the  same  thing,  for  a 
man's  deeds  are  not  his,  they  are  not  any  thing  mor- 
ally speaking,  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  the  outflow 
of  his  heart  or  character.  **  Out  of  the  heart  pro- 
ceedeth,"  etc..  Matt.  xv.  19,  20.  See  also  Matt.  xii. 
36,  37 ;  2  Cor.  V.  10 ;  Gal.  vi.  7,  and  numerous  other 
passages. 

The  word  of  God  nowhere  teaches  that  it  makes  no 
difference  how  a  man  lives  provided  only  he  has  what 
is  commonly  called  "  faith ;  "  but  it  does  everywhere 
teach  that  his  relation  to  God,  and  consequently  his 
eternal  destiny,  is  determined  by  his  life ;  his  life  in 
the  next  world  is  the  same  life  which  he  had  in  this 
world ;  his  deeds  here  are  the  visible  part  of  his  life, 
his  faith  here  is  the  invisible  part  of  the  same  life — 
that  part  which  may  be  said  to  be  hid  with  Christ  in 
God.     And  when  a  man  is  said  to  be  justified  by  faith 


Chapter  II.  103 


V.  T.—To  them  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing 
seek  for  glory  and  honor  and  immortality,  eternal  life  : 

V.  8 : — But  unto  them  that  are  contentious,  and  do  not  obey 
the  truth,  but  obey  unrighteousness,  indignation  and  wrath, 

it  is  meant  that  it  is  this  aspect  of  his  life  which  ren- 
ders him  approved  of  God ;  and  when  he  is  said  by- 
James  to  be  justified  by  works,  it  is  meant  that  it  is 
the  same  life  considered  in  its  visible  aspect  that  ren- 
ders him  approved  of  God.  A  man  may  be  con- 
demned by  his  faith  also,  though  the  word  is  not  used 
in  this  bad  sense  in  the  New  Testament.  The  ex- 
pression in  this  verse,  *'  render  to  every  man,"  which 
is  the  same  as  to  judge,  means  either  to  condemn  or 
to  justify,  to  approve  or  to  disapprove,  according  to 
the  deeds  or  works. 

Vs.  7,  8.  To  them  who,  etc.  Only  two  classes ; 
but  they  are  not  the  Jew  and  the  heathen.  Some  of 
the  circumcised  may  be  in  both  classes ;  some  of  the 
uncircumcised  may  be  in  both.  The  approved  receive 
eternal  life — that  is,  they  receive  that  which  they  have 
all  the  while,  by  patient  continuance  in  well  doing 
been  seeking,  viz.,  glory,  and  honor,  and  immortality. 
These  make  eternal  life.  They  receive  this  because 
they  are  approved,  and  they  are  approved  because 
they  sought  this.  This  sort  of  seeking  is  what  is 
meant  by  their  "  deeds."  Every  man,  be  he  even  blind 
Gentile,  always  finds  what  he  truly  seeks.  But  unto 
them — the  other  class,  which  is  also  described  by  its 
deeds  or  life.  The  word  "  contentious,"  or  factious,  is 
one  which  applies  to  the  inner  disposition  onlj^  which 
shows  that  by  "  deeds"  Paul  did  not  mean  simply  the 
acts   of  the   outer  life.      It  describes  especially  the 


I04         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  9: — Tribulation  and  anguish^  upon  every  soul  of  man 
that  doeth  evil;  of  the  few  first,  and  also  of  the  Gentile  ; 

Jewish  rabbis  who  were  much  given  to  contentions. 
The  next  clause  refers  to  the  outer  life ;  to  not  obey 
the  truth  is  to  disobey  it,  but  Paul  describes  both 
negatively  and  positively  by  naming  that  which  they 
do  not  obey,  and  then  that  which  they  do  obey.  By  the 
truth  is  meant  that  truth  of  which  the  gospel  is  the 
best  embodiment;  to  obey  it  is  to  live  in  harmony 
with  it.  By  unrighteousness  is  here  meant  the  oppo- 
site of  the  truth ;  sin  is  in  its  very  nature  a  lie,  and 
Satan,  the  supreme  embodiment  of  sin,  is  "  the  father 
of  lies."  His  servant  ye  are  whom  ye  obey;  and  to 
obe)^  sin  is  to  obey  one  whose  only  law  is  lawless  im- 
pulse and  passion.  Indignation  and  wrath.  In- 
dignation is  the  mental  state  or  emotion,  so  to  speak, 
of  God  toward  the  class  of  persons  here  described ; 
wrath  is  its  outward  exhibition.  The  Revised  Ver- 
sion, following  the  best  manuscript  authority,  reverses 
the  words,  and  reads  "wrath  and  indignation" — that 
is,  the  thought  of  Paul,  as  Godet  suggests,  sees  the 
wrath  first  and  then  the  emotion  from  which  it  pro- 
ceeds; but  it  is  doubtful  if  Paul  meant  to  lay  any 
stress  on  this  distinction. 

V.  9.  Tribulation  and  anguish,  Paul  uses 
these  four  terms,  indignation,  wrath,  tribulation,  an- 
guish, rather  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  a  strong 
meaning  than  with  reference  to  their  psychological  or 
etymological  meaning;  this  wrath  which  is  the  evi- 
dence of  God's  intense  indignation,  reaching  the  class 
of  persons  described,  causes  the  severest  affliction  in  the 
whole  being.     The  reader  of  the  Greek  text  may  easi- 


Chapter  II.  105 


V.  10: — But  glory,  honor ,  and  peace,  to  every  man  that 
worketh  good ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile  : 

ly  see  that  ''  eternal  life  "  in  verse  7  is  in  the  accusa- 
tive case,  and  is  the  object  of  the  verb  "  will  render  " 
in  verse  6 ;  God  will  render  eternal  life  to  the  persons 
there  described.  Indignation,  wrath,  tribulation,  an- 
guish, are  in  the  nominative  case ;  these  shall  be  or 
come  upon  the  persons  described.  The  change  is 
significant.  God  renders  to  one,  it  comes  upon  the 
other,  himself  being  to  blame ;  he  makes  himself  the 
agent  of  his  own  miser5^  Upon  every  soul  of 
man.  To  every  man's  soul,  and  the  rule  applies  to 
every  man  who  fulfills  the  description  in  the  next 
clause. 

That  doeth  evil,  (Katergazomai).  That  accom- 
plishes evil  as  in  the  manner  described  in  verse  8. 
Of  the  Jew  £rst.  Upon  the  soul  of  the  Jew, 
The  word  Jirst  must  have  the  same  force  here  as  in 
verse  10,  and  also  i.  16.  Paul's  custom  is  to  mention 
the  Jew  first,  because  he  was  the  first  in  knowledge, 
opportunity,  and  responsibility.  If  he  does  evil  it 
will  be  only  so  much  the  worse  for  him,  because  of  his 
greater  knowledge,  etc.  If  he  works  good  it  will  be 
only  so  much  the  better,  because  of  the  greater  risk 
which  he  has  escaped. 

V.  10.  But  glory,  Paul  here  repeats  for  the  pur- 
pose of  emphasis.  Glory,  honor,  and  peace,  I  say. 
He  here  mentions  another  constituent  of  eternal  life, 
peace.  Compare  verse  7.  Peace  was  a  precious  word 
with  Paul.  That  worketh  good,  (Ergazomai),  not 
necessarily  accomplishing  good,  but  working  good  as 
described  in  verse  7,  chiefly  it  may  be  by  "  seeking." 


io6         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  II : — For  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  with  God, 

V.  12  : — For  as  many  as  have  sinned  without  law  shall  also 

perish  without  law ;  and  as  many  as  have  sinned  in  the  law 

shall  be  judged  by  the  law  ; 

The  faithful  servant  is  the  one  who  has  well  done, 
rather  than  the  one  who  has  been  successful.  But  the 
other  class  is  here  viewed  as  always  successful  in  ac- 
comphishing  evil.  To  the  Jew  £rst.  See  preced- 
ing note. 

V.  II.  For  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  A 

reiteration  in  other  words  of  the  principle  already 
stated  in  its  outward  manifestation  in  verses  8-10; 
and  with  this  principle,  even  with  these  very  words 
almost,  the  Jew  must  have  been  acquainted  ;  see  Deut. 
X.  17;  I  Sam.  xvi.  7;  Job  xiii.  10;  xxxiv.  19;  Psalms 
Ixxxii.  2.  But  the  Jew  understood  it  to  mean  that  in 
so  far  only  as  one  Jew  is  compared  with  another  Jew 
God  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  But  Paul  virtually 
tells  them  that  this  is  a  false  exegesis  and  that  it 
refers  to  Jew  and  Gentile  no  less  truly  than  to  Jew 
and  Jew.  And  Paul  quotes  it  as  an  Old  Testament 
proof  of  his  immediately  preceding  statement,  a 
species  of  proof  which  a  Jew  especially  might  be 
supposed  to  be  able  to  appreciate  and  accept. 

V.  12.  For  as  many  as.  In  this  verse  it  is  shown 
how  this  principle  of  impartial  judgment  applies  to 
Jews  and  Gentiles  as  well  as  to  Jews  as  compared 
with  one  another.  The  fact  that  the  Jew  has  the  law — 
that  is,  much  light  and  opportunity,  and  that  this  has 
been  withheld  from  the  Gentiles,  is  no  proof  of  par- 
tiality on  the  part  of  God ;  for  each  will  be  judged  in 
view  of  these  two  facts  respectively.     If  the  Gentile 


Chapter  II.  107 


V.  13  : — {For  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are  just  before  Gody 
but  the  doers  of  the  law  shall  be  justified. 

perishes  it  will  not  be  because  he  did  not  have  that 
revelation  of  law  which  was  made  to  the  Jews ;  and 
if  the  Jew  is  saved  it  will  not  be  because  he  did  have 
it.  It  is  not  the  absence  of  the  law  that  causes  the 
one  to  be  lost  any  more  than  it  is  the  mere  possession 
of  the  law  that  causes  the  other  to  be  saved.  The 
truth  of  the  one  proposition  necessarily  implies  the 
truth  of  the  other.  Salvation,  or  condemnation,  is 
not  a  matter  of  what  one  has  or  has  not ;  it  is  a 
matter  of  what  one  is ;  and  because  what  one  is  is 
manifested  in  what  one  works  or  does  the  latter  may 
be  taken  for  the  former,  as  it  is  in  these  verses.  The 
reason  why  Gentiles  perish  is  because  they  are  not 
what  they  might  and  should  be,  as  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  they  do  not  live  as  they  should  live.  See 
chapter  i.  19-21. 

V.  13.  ¥ory  etc.  What  I  have  said  in  the  state- 
ment just  made  is  true,  as  you  must  know,  for  it  is  a 
plainly  implied  and  almost  an  explicitly  stated  prin- 
ciple of  your  law  (Deut.  x.  5  ;  xxvii.  26)  that,  not  the 
mere  hearers  or  possessors  of  the  law  are  just  or 
righteous  before  God,  but  the  doers  of  the  law  are  the 
ones  who  shall  be  declared  just  or  righteous,  because 
they  are  so,  and  they  only.  This  is  the  plain  meaning 
of  this  verse,  and  does  not  contradict  iii.  20,  on  which 
see  note  at  that  place.  Paul  is  not  here  speaking  of 
justification  by  faith  in  any  sense,  only  in  so  far  as 
"faith"  maybe  included  in  "doing,"  but  he  is  en- 
deavoring to  show  the  Jews  that  the  mere  fact  that 
God  had  favored  them  with  the  gift  of  his  law  was  no 


io8  The  EPISTI.E  TO  the  Romans. 

V.  14 : — For  when  the  Gentiles^  which  have  not  the  law,  do 
by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  these,  having  not 
the  law,  are  a  law  unto  themselves  : 

proof  that  they  were  well  pleasing  in  his  sight,  for  the 
recipients  of  a  gift  might  turn  out  to  be  very  un- 
worthy of  it  by  not  making  the  right  use  of  it — even 
much  more  unworthy  and  culpable  than  those  who 
had  received  no  gift  at  all ;  and  his  further  point  is 
that  this  failure  to  do  the  law  is  the  very  thing  which 
must  be  affirmed  of  the  Jews,  and  that  hence  they  are 
in  precisely  the  same  category  before  God  as  the 
wicked  Gentiles — that  is,  instead  of  being  approved 
they  are  condemned. 

V.  14.  ¥or  the  GentileSy  etc.  In  this  and  the 
following  verse  Paul  shows,  in  application  to  the  Gen- 
tiles of  the  principle  stated  in  verse  6,  how  they  also 
shall  have  to  stand  or  fail  to  stand  the  test  of  law,  but 
not  law  in  the  same  form  as  that  which  the  Jews  had. 
Any  law  is  a  thing  to  be  done  or  obeyed,  and  the  Jew 
and  Gentile  had  each  his  form  of  law,  and  both  were 
forms  of  the  same  divine  law.  If  the  Gentile  obeys 
the  unwritten  form  of  the  law  he  stands,  if  he  diso- 
beys he  falls,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  Jew  who  has 
the  written  form,  and  hears  it  read  in  the  synagogue 
every  Sabbath.  Or,  instead  of  making  this  verse  14 
refer  back  to  verse  6  we  may  connect  it  immediately 
with  verse  13  (which,  however,  is  onl}^  an  application 
to  the  Jew  of  verse  6),  thus:  The  principle  that  not 
the  mere  hearers  of  the  law  are  just  before  God,  but 
the  doers,  etc.,  applies  just  as  truly  to  the  Gentiles, 
/or  when  they,  which  have  not  the  form  of  law  which 
the  Jews  have,  do  by  nature,  or  without  the  light  of 


Chapter  II.  109 


V.  15 : —  Which  shew  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their 
hearts^  their  conscience  also  bearing  witness,  and  their 
thoughts  the  mean  while  accusing  or  else  excusing  one 
another  ;) 

the  written  revelation,  the  things  which  are  required 
by  God's  law,  this  very  fact  shows  that  they  are  not 
left  without  God's  law  in  some  form,  and  according  as 
they  obey  it  or  do  not  obey  it  shall  they  be  approved 
or  disapproved  of  God.  So  we  reach  the  same  con- 
clusion as  by  going  back  to  verse  6. 

Do  by  nature.  By  simply  choosing  to  follow  the 
direction  of  the  moral  faculty  with  which  God  has  en- 
dowed them.  Are  a  law  unto  themselves — that  is, 
the  dictates  of  this  moral  faculty  are  the  Gentiles'  law. 
The  law  requires  the  possession  and  practice  of  vari- 
ous traits  of  character;  if  the  Gentile,  who  knows 
nothing  whatever  of  the  law  as  such,  prefers,  posses- 
ses, and  practices  these  traits,  he  is  not  consciously 
keeping  the  law,  but  he  is  observing  or  doing  the 
things  contained  in  the  law,  and  thereby  he  shows 
that  while  he  is  without  tAe  law  he  is  not  without  a 
law. 

V.  15.  Which  show.  The  pronoun  in  Greek  is 
not  the  simple  relative  wAo  or  which,  but  those  who,  or 
as  the  same  word  also  means  in  various  places  both  in 
classical  and  New  Testament  Greek,  since  they,  or  in 
that  they ;  and  the  sense  and  connection  with  the  pre- 
ceding verse  is  as  follows :  The  Gentiles,  who  have 
not  the  written  law,  are  nevertheless  not  without  law, 
or  in  other  words  the  very  constitution  of  their  moral 
natures  must  be  regarded  as  their  law ;  and  this  is  evi- 
dent not  only  in  the  fact  that  they  do  by  natural  or 


no  The  EPISTI.E  TO  THE  Romans. 

V.  i6 : — In  the  day  when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men 
by  Jesus  Christ  according  to  my  gospel. 

uninstructed  preference  the  very  things  which  the 
written  law  requires  or  refrain  from  doing  those  things 
which  it  forbids,  but  it  must  be  regarded  as  further 
evident  in  that  they  show  the  work,  or  requirement  of 
the  law  written  not  on  tables  of  stone  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Jews,  but  on  their  hearts ;  and  the  fact  that 
this  choice  between  actions  is  not  a  merely  intellectual 
one,  or,  in  other  words,  that  it  is  the  outcome  of  the 
law  in  their  hearts,  is  evident  from  the  testimony  of 
conscience,  which  even  the  heathen  have,  and  from  the 
thoughts  or  debates  which  they  engage  in  regarding 
actions,  sometimes  approving,  sometimes  condemning. 
A  good  many  "thoughts"  of  Socrates  and  others  on 
right  and  wrong  have  come  down  to  us  in  the  writings 
of  Xenophon,  Plato,  etc.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
modern  heathen  have  a  sense  of  sin ;  the  fact  that 
they  have  so  little  knowledge  of  the  Savior  from  sin 
and  sin's  consequences  is  what  renders  their  condition 
so  peculiarly  pitiable. 

V.  i6.  In  the  day.  If  the  parenthesis  in  which 
the  King  James  translators  have  placed  verses  13-15 
be  regarded,  verse  16  is  to  be  connected  back  with 
verse  12,  thus:  For  as  many  as  have  sinned  without 
law  shall  also  perish  without  law,  and  as  many  as 
have  sinned  having  the  law  shall  be  judged  by  means 
of  the  law  in  the  day — that  is,  in  the  final  judgment 
day,  when  God,  etc.  This  is  the  sense,  however, 
whether  the  parenthesis  be  retained  or  omitted,  for 
verses  13-15  are  only  an  expansion  and  application  to 
Jews  and  Gentiles  respectively  of  the  principle  stated 


Chapter  II.  in 


in  verse  12.  The  secrets  of  men.  The  testimony 
of  their  consciences  and  the  secret  thoughts  or  proc- 
esses of  approving  and  disapproving  one  another. 

By  Jesus  Christ.  By  means  of,  or  through; 
Christ  is  to  act  as  Judge  in  that  day,  as  he  now  acts 
as  Savior.  In  office  he  is  always  both.  He  can  not 
be  our  Savior  without  also  being  our  Lord,  and  hence, 
our  Judge.  We  can  not  accept  him  as  the  former 
without  accepting  him  as  the  latter.  He  is  our  Judge 
any  way ;  the  Universal  Judge.  See  Matt.xxv.  31,  32 ; 
Johnv.  22,  27;  Acts  xvii.  31.  It  is  well  to  have  him 
who  shall  be  our  Judge  first  to  be  our  Savior.  But  it 
is  hardly  proper  to  intimate,  as  some  do,  that  the  Son 
of  God  in  his  capacity  of  Son  of  Man  will  judge  more 
sympathetically  than  the  Father  himself  would,  for 
this  implies  that  the  former  might  be  a  little  more 
lenient  or  partial  toward  us  than  the  latter.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Father  and  Son  **  are  one,"  in  sympathy 
as  well  as  in  other  respects.  The  fact  that  Christ  took 
upon  himself  our  suffering,  tempted,  and  infirm  nat- 
ure and  circumstances  ought  to  bring  us  nearer  to 
him,  but  it  brought  him  no  nearer  to  us  in  loving 
sympathy  than  he  always  was.  He  knew  our  'frame, 
he  remembered  that  we  are  dust,  long  before  he  be- 
came incarnate.  His  li/e  on  earth,  as  distinguished 
from  his  death,  was  not  intended  to  affect  him  as 
judge;  it  was  intended  to  affect  us  toward  him.  And 
besides  he  is  also  to  judge  the  angels,  and  he  has 
never  taken  upon  himself  their  nature  and  circum- 
stances. The  reason  why  he  is  to  be  judge  is  not  re- 
vealed; and  hence  the  only  reason  that  can  be  assigned 
is  that  it  seemed  good  to  the  Father  and  Son  that  it 
should  be  so.    According  to  my  gospel— that  is, 


112         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  17 : — Beholdy  thou  art  called  a  Jew,  and  restest  in  the  laWy, 
and  makest  thy  boast  of  God, 

the  principle  laid  down  and  illustrated  in  verses  6-15  is 
the  rule  according  to  which  God  will  judge.  Paul 
dwells  in  his  teachings  on  the  fact  and  manner  of  the 
judgment  more  than  the  other  apostles,  but  in  so  far 
as  the  others  express  themselves  there  is  no  contra- 
diction. Paul  wrote  much  more  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment than  any  other  one  writer,  and  at  the  time  he 
wrote  this  epistle  neither  all  of  the  four  Gospels,  nor 
the  Acts,  nor  the  most  of  the  other  non-Pauline 
books  had  been  written.  In  their  oral  teachings,  as 
in  their  written,  some  of  the  apostles  must  have  dwelt 
more  on  one  aspect  or  part  of  the  Gospel  and  others 
on  another.  Paul  could  speak  of  his  teaching  as  his 
gospel,  because  the  Gentiles  were  acquainted  with  it 
as  his,  though  in  its  fundamental  principle  it  neither 
differed  from  nor  contradicted  that  of  the  other  apos- 
tles. 

V.  17.  Having  shown,  in  verses  6-16,  the  principle 
on  which  God  will  judge  all  men,  Paul  now  reverts  to 
verses  1-5,  and  shows  that  in  view  of  this  principle 
on  which  God  judges,  the  Jew  can  not  expect  to  be 
approved.  But  it  is  plain  that  he  proceeds  with  great 
caution  to  apply  the  principle  to  the  Jew  by  name, 
not  because  he  has  the  least  doubt  of  its  truth,  not 
because  he  is  afraid,  but  because  of  the  violent  and 
intense  prejudice  of  the  Jews,  to  which  nothing  could 
be  more  offensive  than  to  say  that  God  would  judge 
them  by  the  same  impartial  rule  of  equity  as  he 
judged  the  Gentiles.  Paul  had  been  full  of  intense 
Jewish  prejudice  once  himself,  and  knew  how  it  was. 


Chapter  II.  113 


V.  18 : — And  knowest  his  will,  and  approvest  the  things  that 
are  more  excellent,  being  instructed  out  of  the  law  ; 

Behold,  The  Greek  text  followed  by  the  King 
James  translators  has  here  ide,  behold,  that  preferred 
by  the  revisers  and  various  commentators,  as  Bengel, 
Meyer,  Godet,  Gifford,  and  others,  has  eide,  but  if. 
The  former  is  more  dramatic,  the  latter  more  strictly 
logical;  but  the  meaning  is  practically  the  same  in 
either  case.  ''  You  are  a  Jew,"  he  says,  and  then  fol- 
lo"Ws  a  long  description  of  the  Jew,  his  knowledge,  op- 
portunities, pretensions,  etc.,  continuing  one  sentence 
through  verse  20 ;  "  but  what  does  all  this  amount  to," 
he  asks,  **  inasmuch  as  your  lives  are  manifestly  out 
of  harmony  with  your  knowledge  and  opportunity?  " 

Art  called  a,  Jew,  Bearest  the  proud  name  of 
Jew.  As  we  might  say  now :  You  who  are  called  a 
Christian,  you  who  pretend  to  be  a  Christian  by  hold- 
ing membership  in  the  Church,  you  who  know  what 
is  implied  in  the  word  Christian,  is  not  your  life  just 
as  bad  as  that  of  one  who  claims  no  such  name  and 
makes  no  such  pretensions  ? 

Restest  in  the  law.  Depend  upon  their  posses-, 
sion  of  the  law  for  salvation.  Boast  of  God.  As 
if  the  fact  that  they  were  God's  people  in  a  national 
sense  was  sufficient  to  save  them!  The  right  sort  of 
glorying,  however,  is  described  in  Jer.  ix.  24. 

V.  18.  And  approvest  the  things,  etc.  Paul 
means  that  they  approve  in  theory  but  not  in  practice, 
but  he  suppresses  these  words  probably  because  he 
wishes  to  suggest  here  their  condition  of  heart  and 
life  rather  than  plainly  state  it.  There  is  a  touch  of 
irony  in  his  method. 
8 


114         The  EPISTI.B  TO  THE  Romans. 

V.  19 : — And  art  confident  that  thou  thyself  art  a  guide  of 
the  blind,  a  light  of  them  which  are  in  darkness, 

V.  20 : — An  instructor  of  the  foolish,  a  teacher  of  babes ^ 
which  hast  the  form  of  knowledge  and  of  the  truth  in  the 
law. 


V.  19.  And  art  confident.  Having  stated  in 
verses  17,  18,  the  Jew's  attitude  of  conceit  and  satis- 
faction in  respect  to  himself,  the  apostle  in  this  and 
the  next  verse  describes  his  attitude  toward  the 
heathen.  "  It  was  part  of  God's  purpose  in  choosing 
Israel  that  they  should  become  the  witnesses  and 
teachers  of  his  truth"  to  the  heathen;  their  sin  lay- 
in  making  a  vain  boast  of  their  privileges,  instead  of 
fulfilling  the  duty  (Gifford).  The  word  "confident" 
expresses  the  proud  air  of  assurance  with  which  the 
Jew  set  about  guiding  and  enlightening  the  Gentile, 
or  heathen — now  and  then  winning  in  such  way  a 
Gentile  proselyte,  thus  fulfilling  in  paltry  measure 
his  world-wide  mission  of  witnessing  to  the  nations 
concerning  the  truth;  and  after  all,  even  when  the 
poor  Gentile  was  won  he  was  "  twofold  more  the  child 
of  hell"  than  he  was  before.  Thus  did  the  Jew 
instruct. 

Paul  writes  as  if  he  had  these  words  of  Christ  in 
his  mind,  and  he  writes,  apparently,  as  if  it  were  diffi- 
cult to  prevent  himself  from  speaking  jUvSt  as  plainly. 
The  similarity  of  Paul's  teaching  in  this  chapter,  as 
well  as  elsewhere,  with  Christ's,  is  very  close ;  and  as 
we  study  the  two  side  by  side  we  can  not  help  being 
struck  with  the  profound  insight  which  the  former 
had  into  the  spirit  of  the  teachings  of  Him  whose 
apostle  he  was ;  and  this  insight,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  has  not  been  appreciated  by  some  otherwise 


Chapter  II.  115 


V.  21 : — Thou  therefore  which  teachest  another,  teachest 
thou  not  thyself?  thou  that  preachest  a  man  should  not  steals 
dost  thou  steal? 

V.  22  : — Thou  that  say  est  a  man  should  not  commit  adultery  ^ 
dost  thou  commit  adultery?  thou  that  abhorrest  idols,  dost 
thou  comm.it  sacrilege  ? 

V.  23 : — Thou  that  makes t  thy  boast  of  the  law,  through 
breaking  the  law  dishonor  est  thou  God? 

keen-minded  critics  of  Paulinism.  Compare,  for 
instance,  on  this  chapter  alone,  what  Christ  says  on 
the  outside  of  the  platter  as  compared  with  the  inside, 
the  whited  sepulchers,  those  who  simply  say,  I^ord, 
Lord,  the  parable  of  the  wicked  husbandmen,  etc.,  all 
of  which  was  intended  to  have  personal  application 
to  the  Jews,  who  would  neither  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  themselves  nor  permit  the  Gentiles  to  do  so 
in  so  far  as  their  false  teachings  and  false  lives  could 
prevent. 

Vs.  21-23.  Thou  therefore.  The  apostle  having 
reminded  the  Jew,  in  the  preceding  verses,  of  his 
boasted  knowledge  and  proud  pretensions,  now  turns 
upon  him  face  to  face,  as  it  were :  Is  it  possible  that 
you,  O  proud  teacher  of  others,  is  it  possible  that  you 
teach  not  yourself?  Does  not  the  law  which  you  have 
forbid  stealing  ?  And  do  you  not  steal  ?  Do  you  not 
also  say  it  is  wrong  to  commit  adultery  ?  And  do  you 
not  commit  adultery?  and  so  for  the  other  specifica- 
tions here  mentioned — in  all,  four:  theft,  adultery, 
sacrilege  or  robbery  of  temples,  and  dishonoring  of 
God,  this  last  probably  being  meant  as  the  summation 
of  the  others.  Theft  and  rapine,  according  to  Jose- 
phus,  were  common  vices  of  the  Jews  (Jewish  Wars, 
V.  26).    Our  Savior  accuses  the  Pharisees,  the  most 


ii6         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


pretentious  sect  of  Jews,  of  extortion.  See  Matt, 
xxiii.  14-25,  and  the  whole  series  of  woes  there  pro- 
nounced. Sensuality  was  one  of  the  commonest  vices 
among  the  Jews,  as  among  Shemitic  peoples  gener- 
ally. They  pretended  to  abhor  idolatry,  but  they 
were  not  too  good  to  rob  heathen  temples  of  their 
valuable  contents ;  they  even  converted  the  courts  of 
the  temple  of  God  at  Jerusalem  into  a  ''den  of 
thieves."  Such  cases  as  these  may  seem  to  be  ex- 
treme, but  are  all  professing  Christians  in  these  days 
guiltless  of  such  offenses  against  God  and  man? 
Paul's  argument  would  have  been  just  as  good  had  he 
instanced  less  aggravated  vices,  but  it  is  not  likely 
that  it  would  have  had  much  effect  on  the  obdurate 
Jewish  conscience.  To  have  named  a  series  of  "  little 
sins,"  so  to  speak,  while  just  as  legitimate  from  a  log- 
ical point  of  view,  would  have  left  his  indictment 
without  weight  in  the  estimation  of  the  Jew.  And  be- 
sides, he  could  hardly  have  named  a  well-known  Jew- 
ish vice  that  was  not  a  large  one  (Ps.  1.  16 ;  Isa.  Hi.  5 ; 
Ezek.  xxxvi.  18-24).  The  Church  member  of  to-day 
might  well  read  these  verses,  beginning  with  the  1 7th, 
substituting  the  word  "  Christian  "  for  "  Jew,"  and  add 
the  so-called  smaller  sins  to  those  which  Paul  mentions. 
The  reader  should  keep  in  mind  the  point  which 
Paul  is  aiming  to  make,  which  is,  that  the  Jews  on 
account  of  their  sins  are  no  less  the  objects  of  God's 
intense  disapprobation  than  the  Gentiles  are  on  ac- 
count of  theirs — and  this,  notwithstanding  they  have 
God's  written  law,  and  hence,  that  they  need  a  sal- 
vation which  this  law  has  not  furnished,  no  less  than 
do  the  Gentiles. 

V.  24.  JEor  the  name  of  God  is  blaspbemed. 


Chapter  II.  117 


V.  2\\—For  the  name  of  God  is  blasphemed  among  the 
Gentiles  through  you,  as  it  is  written. 

V.  25  \~For  circumcision  verily  profiteth,  if  thou  keep  the 
law :  but  if  thou  be  a  breaker  of  the  law,  thy  circumcision  is 
made  uncircumcision. 


Spoken  against ;  just  as  professing  Christians  whose 
lives  are  far  from  wliat  they  should  be  may  be  a 
reproach  to  Christ  among  the  heathen  or  unconverted 
sinners  about  them.  Instead  of  being  a  light  to  them 
that  are  in  darkness  they  are  a  cause  of  stumbling. 

V.  25.  jPor  circumcision^  etc.  The  typical  Jew 
to  whom  Paul  represents  himself  as  speaking,  may  be 
supposed  to  have  asked  at  this  point :  If  the  fact  that 
we  have  the  law  is  not  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  our 
salvation,  is  not  circumcision,  which  is  the  sign  of 
God's  covenant  with  us  as  his  people?  No,  says 
Paul,  for  there  is  something  far  more  essential  to  the 
binding  force  of  the  covenant  in  its  true  spiritual 
sense,  as  distinguished  from  its  mere  national  sense, 
than  simply  the  observance  of  its  outward  sign.  In- 
deed, circumcision  amounts  to  nothing  apart  from  a 
circumcised  heart— that  is,  unless  the  heart  be  right 
with  God,  and  its  value  then  consists  only  in  its  value 
as  an  outward  symbol.  In  the  place  of  Paul's  word 
"  circumcision,"  we  might  substitute  the  words  par- 
taking the  Lord's-supper,  or  baptism  by  water,  or 
joining  the  church;  none  of  these  amount  to  any 
thing  apart  from  a  baptized  heart,  or  a  heart  united 
to  Christ,  or  a  heart  v/hich  identifies  itself  with  the 
"broken  body  and  shed  blood  "  of  Christ.  This  may 
be  plain  enough  to  us,  but  it  was  not  so  evident  to 
the  Jew  whose  spiritual  perception  had  been  blunted 


ii8         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  26: — Therefore,  if  the  uncirciimcision  keep  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  law,  shall  not  his  uncircumcision  be  counted  for 
circumcision  ? 

by  long  misuse  of  the  truth.  However  good  a  re- 
ligion may  be,  as  that  of  the  Old  Testament,  if  its 
outward  and  formal  elements  be  the  ones  which  are 
persistently  emphasized  to  the  neglect  of  its  spiritual 
elements,  as  had  long  been  the  case  with  the  Jews, 
the  effect  can  not  be  otherwise  than  exceedingly 
deleterious.  It  was  against  this  practical  error  that 
the  Old  Testament  prophets  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  earnestly  sought  to  guard  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Israel.  In  view  of  which  fact,  to  say  nothing 
of  others,  it  would  seem  strange  that  the  Jews  of 
Paul's  day  should  have  regarded  him  as  such  a 
radical  in  his  view^s,  after  all.  But  they  did,  never- 
theless. 

V.  26.  Therefore  if  the  uncircumcision.    By 

uncircumcision  Paul  here  means  the  uncircumcised 
Gentile.  Righteousness  of  the  law.  The  right- 
eousness which  the  law  requires.  Shall  not  his 
uncircumcision.  The  fact  that  he  is  uncircum- 
cised and  yet  has  in  his  heart  and  life  the  righteous- 
ness which  the  law  requires  counts  for  more  than  if 
he  were  circumcised  and  had  not  this  righteousness, 
since,  as  Paul  has  just  shown,  the  main  thing  is,  not 
to  be  circumcised,  but  to  keep  the  law.  An  uncir- 
cumcised Gentile  w4io  does  it  is  better  than  a  circum- 
cised Jew  who  does  not.  Just  as  we  might  say,  A 
non-church  member,  or  unbaptized  person,  whose 
heart  and  life  are  right  is  vastly  more  approved  of 
God  than  a  church  member  whose  heart  and  life  are 


Chapter  II.  119 


V.  27 : — And  shall  not  uncircumcision  which  is  by  nature^ 
if  it  fulfill  the  law,  judge  thee,  who  by  the  letter  and  circum- 
cision dost  transgress  the  law  ? 

V.  28 : — For  he  is  not  a  Jew,  which  is  one  outwardly;  neither 
is  that  circu'tncision,  which  is  outward  in  the  flesh  : 

V.  29 : — But  he  is  a  Jew,  which  is  one  inwardly ;  and  cir- 
cumcision is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  let- 
ter ;  whose  praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of  God. 

not  right.  See  our  Savior's  parable  of  the  two  sons, 
Matt.  xxi.  28. 

V.  27.  Uncircumcision  which  is  by  nature. 

By  which  is  meant  simply  the  Gentile  heathen  who 
has  not  been  circumcised,  and  is  hence  not  outwardly 
and  technically  one  of  the  covenant  people.  Puliill 
the  law.  I^ives,  in  outward  life  and  heart  in  con- 
formity with  the  will  of  God  so  far  as  known.  See 
verse  14  and  note.  Judge  thee.  Judge  the  Jew, 
instead  of  the  Jew's  judging  him  (verse  i).  That  is, 
such  a  heathen  has  a  better  right  to  condemn  the  Jew 
(or  nominal  Christian)  than  the  Jew  (or  nominal 
Christian)  has  to  condemn  him. 

Vs.  28,  29.  In  these  verses  Paul  states  the  reason 
why  circumcision  in  itself  avails  nothing  to  the  Jew 
and  wh}^  uncircumcision  in  itself  avails  nothing  to 
the  condemnation  of  the  Gentile ;  the  really  essential 
thing  to  salvation  being,  not  the  outward  sign,  but 
the  inward  grace  or  character,  to  the  possession  of 
which  the  sign  is  supposed  to  testif}^;  though  the 
sign  may  testify  falsely  as  it  only  too  generally  did  in 
the  case  of  the  Jew.  The  uncircumcised  Gentile  far 
beyond  the  limit  of  the  visible  Jewish  church,  if  he 
possessed  the  inward  character  and  life,  was  vastly 
more  well-pleasing  to  God  than  the  Jew,  within  the 


I20         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  III.,  V.  I : — JV/iat  advantage  theft  hath  the  Jew?  or 
what  profit  is  there  of  circumcision  ? 

V.  2  : — Much  every  way :  chiefly,  because  that  unto  them 
were  committed  the  oracles  of  God. 

pale  of  the  church,  who  possessed  only  the  outward 
sign. 

A  Jewish  Objection. 

At  this  point  in  his  argument  Paul  anticipates  cer- 
tain objections  on  the  part  of  the  Jew  to  the  principle 
which  he  had  laid  down  in  the  preceding  chapter,  as 
being  the  one  according  to  which  God  approves  or 
disapproves  of  men,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles. 
These  questions  and  answers  are  a  closely  constit- 
uent part  of  Paul's  argument,  and  though  it  is  not  at 
all  necessary  to  suppose  that  he  had  before  him  an 
imaginary  Jewish  opponent,  it  is  of  course  necessary 
to  bear  in  mind  that  the  objections  or  questions  asked 
are  such  as  a  Jew  might  readily  raise.  The  last  ques- 
tions which  lie  thus  puts  into  the  Jew's  mouth  is  in 
verse  9. 

V.  I.  (First  question).     What  advantage  then. 

The  two  questions  in  this  verse  are  only  two  forms 
of  one  and  the  same,  thus:  In  view  of  your  state- 
ment that  God  judges  Jews  and  Gentiles  on  the  same 
principle,  what  advantage  has  the  Jew?  Or,  in  other 
words,  as  one  becomes  a  Jew  by  being  circumcised,  of 
what  value  is  this  rite  ? 

V.  2.  (Answer).  Much  every  way;  chiefly,  A 
good  many  advantages  have  belonged,  and  still  belong 
to  the  Jews  which  the  Gentiles  do  not  possess.  I 
need  not  enumerate  them,  but  first  of  all,  they  were 


Chapter  III.  121 


V,  3  : — For  what  if  sotne  did  not  believe  ?  shall  their  unbe- 
lief make  the  faith  of  God  without  effect  ? 

V.  4: — God  forbid:  yea,  let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a 
liar  ;  as  it  is  written,  That  thou  mightest  be  justified  in  thy 
sayings,  and  mightest  overcome  when  thott  art  judged. 

intrusted  with  the  Old  Testament  revelations  which 
they  now  have  in  written  form.  Now  it  is  a  great 
advantage  and  honor  to  have  such  a  trust,  for  it  fur- 
nishes the  Jew  with  certain  knowledge  of  the  charac- 
ter and  will  of  God,  and  of  the  kind  of  character  and 
lives  he  wishes  ours  to  be ;  and  the  very  fact  that  this 
Scripture  is  a  trust  committed  to  the  Jew  implies  that 
it  was  God's  intention  that  he  should  use  it  for  the 
benefit  of  the  heathen  no  less  than  of  himself. 

V.  3.  (Answer  continued).     For  what  if  some, 

etc.  This  verse  is  generally  regarded  as  being  the 
words  of  the  imaginary  Jew,  and  on  this  supposition 
are  variously  interpreted.  But  it  seems  best  to  regard 
them  as  the  direct  continuation  of  the  preceding  verse, 
thus :  For  what  if  some  of  the  Jews  did  prove  faith- 
less to  this  trust  which  was  intrusted  to  them  ?  Shall 
that  make  of  no  effect  the  faithfulness  of  God  ?  And 
then  Paul  proceeds  in  the  next  verse  to  answer  his 
own  question.  (This  use  of  faith  in  the  sense  of  faith- 
fulness is  not  unknown  in  the  New  Testament ;  see 
Titus  ii.  10,  etc.) 

V.  4.  God  forbid.  Literally,  /ef  it  not  be  ;  or,  by 
no  means.  J^et  God  be  true.  .  .  .  Mvery  man 
a  liar.  The  words  "true"  and  "liar"  in  this  verse 
correspond  to  "  faithfulness  "  and  "  faithless  "  in  verse 
3.  Yea,  God  will  remain  true  or  faithful  to  his  prom- 
ise and  purpose  of  salvation,  even  though  not  only 


122  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  5 : — But  if  our  unrighteousness  commend  the  right- 
eousness of  God,  what  shall  we  say  ?  Is  God  unrighteous 
who  taketh  vengeance?  {I speak  as  a  m,an.) 

some  Jews,  but  every  Jew,  should  prove  false  or  faith- 
less to  his  trust ;  for  if  they  are  faithless,  their  privi- 
leges shall  be  transferred  to  another  people,  and  God's 
faithfulness  to  his  purpose,  that  in  Abraham  and  his 
seed  should  all  nations  be  blessed,  shall  be  vindicated 
against  all  who  would  judge  or  accuse  him  of  faith- 
lessness. God  can  not  be  true  to  his  character  and 
purpose  and  yet  honor  those  who  dishonor  him  by 
being  false  to  the  pledges  implied  in  the  fact  that  they 
are  parties  to  the  covenant.  It  was  understood  at  the 
very  outset  that  the  covenant  with  Israel  was  a  condi- 
tional one ;  if  ye  Avill  be  and  do  so  and  so,  y^  shall  be 
my  people. 

As  it  is  written.  Psalm  li.  4.  Quoted  here  as 
showing  that  even  the  Jew's  faithlessness,  or  other 
sins,  may  be  the  very  means  which  God  will  employ 
to  make  only  the  more  manifest  to  all  men  his  faith- 
fulness and  righteousness.  JiistiBed,  Vindicated, 
or  shown  to  be  true  and  fair  in  all  his  dealings. 
Judged.  Accused  of  being  untrue  to  his  promise 
and  purpose,  and  unfair  in  his  dealings.  The  particu- 
lar aspect  of  untrueness  and  unfairness,  which  is  here 
represented  as  being  charged  against  God,  has  refer- 
ence to  his  dealings  with  the  Jews.  But  the  words 
may  easily  have  a  wider  application. 

V.  5.  (Second  question).  If  our  unrighteous- 
ness. The  faithless  and  false  lives  of  us  Jews.  (The 
reference  primarily  is  to  the  Jews,  but  the  application, 
of  course,  is  general.)  Commends  the  righteous- 
of  God.     Vindicates  and  makes  evident  God's  faith- 


Chapter  III.  123 


V.  6: — God  forbid:    for  then  how  shall  God  judge  the 
world? 

fulness  and  truth,  or  any  other  aspect  of  his  character 
as  bearing  upon  his  dealings  with  men,  and  all  of 
which  are  the  outflow  of  his  holiness.  Now,  if  God 
thus  uses  our  unrighteousness,  the  objector  might  say, 
in  order  to  vindicate  and  make  manifest  the  existence 
in  himself  of  the  opposite  attribute,  does  not  the  argu- 
ment destroy  itself?  Does  he  not  indeed  prove  him- 
self to  be  unjust  when  he  punishes  the  sin  which  he 
uses  as  the  sole  means  of  advertising  his  righteous- 
ness ?  The  form  of  the  question  in  Greek  is  such  as 
implies  a  negative  answer,  and  even  in  this  case  Paul 
could  not  write  the  question  without  indicating  that 
he  was  not  asking  it  in  his  ov/n  capacity,  but  in  that 
of  an  objector :  "  I  speak  as  a  man." 

V.  6.  (Answer).  God  forbid.  Let  it  not  be.  Paul 
indignantly  repels  the  imputation  which  the  question 
makes  upon  the  character  of  God:  "  B}^  no  means," 
he  says,  and  his  further  answer  is  a  condensed  syllo- 
gism, thus  :  Major  pre^riise — If  God  were  unrighteous 
there  could  be  no  final  judgment  of  the  w^orld,  for  the 
doctrine  of  a  final  judgment  assumes  the  justice  of 
the  judge. 

Minor  premise — But  you,  as  do  even  the  pagans, 
admit  there  will  be  a  final  judgment. 

Conclusion — Therefore,  3^ou  must  admit  that  God  is 
righteous,  and  the  fact  that  he  draws  a  good  result 
from  man's  bad  deed  can  not  destroy  his  right  to 
judge  that  man. 

V.  7.  (Second  objection  in  another  form).     V^or  if^ 


124  '^HE  EPISTI.K  TO  THE  ROMANS. 

V.  7 : — For  if  the  truth  of  God  hath  more  abounded 
through  my  lie  unto  his  glory  ;  why  yet  am  I  also  judged  as  a 
sinner  f 

V.  8  -.—And  not  rather,  (aj  we  be  slanderously  reported,  and 
as  some  ajffirm  that  we  say,)  Let  us  do  evily  that  good  may 
come  ?  whose  damnation  is  Just. 

The  Revised  Version,  following  the  oldest  Greek  man- 
uscripts, reads  "but  if"  instead  of  "for  if;"  either 
reading  yields  the  correct  meaning.  In  the  one  case 
the  Jewish  objector  says :  I  am  not  satisfied  with  your 
answer,  for  if  the  truth  or  righteousness  of  God  is 
made  to  abound,  or  be  glorified,  by  sin,  it  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  right  that  God  should  judge  me  as 
a  sinner.  If  we  take  the  words  "but  if,"  we  do  not 
need  to  supply  the  words  "  I  am  not  satisfied  with 
your  answer."  The  truth  of  God.  .  .  .  My  lie. 
The  truth  of  God  means  God  as  truth,  or  God  con- 
sidered as  true  to  his  own  character,  of  which  the 
central  element,  we  may  say,  is  holiness.  He  is  faith- 
ful, just,  etc.,  because  he  is  holy ;  and  he  will  always 
be  faithful,  just,  etc.,  because  he  will  always  be  true 
to  himself.  "  My  lie,"  or  the  "  lie  of  me,"  is  myself  as 
false  to  God  who  is  my  standard  of  character  and  life. 

V.  8.  (Answer).  And  not  rather,  Paul  answers 
the  objection  of  the  Jew,  as  stated  in  verse  7,  by  ask- 
ing him  a  question  which  on  its  very  face  answers 
itself  and  shows  the  absurdity  of  the  Jew's  objection : 
Why  not  say  at  once,  let  us  do  evil  that  good  may 
come.  If  I  can  magnify  God's  righteousness  by  sin- 
ning, then  I  ought  to  sin.  That  is  what  your  objec- 
tion, as  last  stated,  amounts  to,  and  you  know  very 
well  that  it  is  absurd,  and  that  you  do  not  believe  it ; 
for  did  you  not  severely  criticise  me  when  it  came  to 


Chapter  III.  125 

V.  9 : —  IV/ta^  then  ?  are  we  better  than  they?  No^  in  no 
wise :  for  we  have  before  proved  both  fews  and  Gentiles,  that 
they  are  all  tender  sin  ; 


your  ears  that  I  was  teaching  this  same  pernicious 
principle?  But  if  your  objection  drives  you,  as  you 
see  it  does,  to  the  acceptance  of  this  false  and  blas- 
phemous adage,  you  can  see  for  yourself  that  the 
objection  is  not  valid.  Whose  damnation  is  just. 
That  is,  the  condemnation  of  those  who  do  evil  that 
good  may  come,  is  just.  And  the  Jew,  who  had  just 
pleaded  that  God,  who  derived  glory  from  his  sinning, 
ought  not,  therefore,  to  judge  him  for  sinning,  must 
have  felt  that  the  condemnation  rested  particularly 
upon  him. 

V.  9.    Wliat  then  ?  are  we  better  than  they. 

It  is  best  to  regard  this  question  as  asked  by  a  Jew, 
or  by  Paul  as  representing  a  Jew,  thus :  Well  then, 
since  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Jews  above  the  Gentiles 
consists,  as  you  have  already  stated,  in  their  superior 
advantages,  do  you  think  that  we,  though  not  as  we 
should  be,  are  at  least  in  some  degree  superior  to  the 
Gentiles  also  in  respect  to  piety  ?  The  second  part  ot 
the  verse  is  Paul's  very  plain  and  emphatic  answer  to 
this  question.  He  affirms  that  they  are  all  on  a  level. 
The  above  is  the  meaning  of  the  Vulgate  Version, 
Tyndale's,  Cranmer's,  the  Genevan,  and  the  King 
James.  It  is  also  substantially  the  view  of  lyUther, 
Calvin,  Beza,  Bengel,  Macknight,  BloomJSeld,  Alford, 
Wordsworth,  Hodge,  GifFord,  Tholuck,  Jowett,  Thayer 
(I^ex.),  Abbott,  and  it  is  also  the  view  of  the  Ameri- 
can members  of  the  New  Testament  Revision  Com- 
mittee. The  Revised  Version  reads :  Are  we  (Jews) 
worse  than  they  (the  Gentiles)  ? 


126  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  lo : — As  it  is  written,  There  is  none  righteous,  no  not  one  : 
V.  II : — There  is  none  that  understandeth,  there  is  none  that 

seeketh  after  God. 

V.  12  : — They  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are  together 

become  unprofitable ;   there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not 

one. 

Prof.  Godet's  view  is :  "  Have  we  (Jews)  a  shelter 
under  which  we  can  regard  ourselves  as  delivered 
from  wrath?  "  with  which  Dr.  Morison  seems  closely 
to  agree :  "  Do  we  Jews  bring  forward  pleas  in  behalf 
of  ourselves — that  is,  in  bar  of  a  sentence  of  condem- 
nation against  ourselves?  " 

V.  IO-I2.  As  it  is  written.  Psalm  xiv.  1-3; 
liii.  1-3.  In  concluding  his  proof  of  the  sin  and 
guilt  of  both  Gentiles  and  Jews  Paul  quotes,  as  he 
often  does,  the  testimony  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  the  evidence  of  which  his  Jewish  readers 
would  naturally  be  supposed  to  regard  as  altogether 
valid.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  Jewish  exegesis 
and  application  of  the  Scriptures  in  Paul's  day  was 
exceedingly  loose  and  one-sided ;  and  the  great  diffi- 
culty was  to  induce  them  to  see  and  accept  the  testi- 
mony of  their  own  sacred  books.  The  fact  that  Paul, 
even  with  all  the  supposed  exegetical  faults  which 
have  been  attributed  to  him  by  rationalistic  critics, 
was  so  far  in  advance  of  the  current  rabbinical  use 
of  the  Scriptures  proves  that  he  was  either  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  or  an  inexplicable 
prodigy. 

There  is  none  righteous,  no  not  one.  In  the 
Hebrew,  "  There  is  none  that  doeth  good,"  which  is 
in  sense  the  same.  The  plain  meaning  of  the  words, 
as  used  both  by  the  Psalmist  and  the  Apostle,  is  that 


Chaptp:r  III.  127 


such  is  the  state,  not  of  man,  or  a  set  of  men,  in  a 
given  age  or  country ;  but  that  such  is  man's  state  by 
nature  always  and  everywhere;  a  state  of  ungodli- 
ness ;  he  of  one  sort  morally,  God  being  of  another 
sort;  he  unrighteous,  unholy,  etc.,  God  being  right- 
eous, holy,  etc.;  this  is  the  want  of  harmony  or  one- 
ness between  all  men  and  God ;  and  in  order  that  it 
may  be  otherwise  man  must  cease  to  be  what  he  is  by 
nature  and  become  the  opposite  by  grace.  And  this 
last  is  the  point  toward  which  Paul  is  proceeding. 
But,  to  make  the  moral  condition  of  the  natural  man 
only  sadder  still  the  next  verse  informs  us  that  there  is 
no  man  who,  in  his  natural  state  adequately  and  fully 
appreciates  the  above  stated  lamentable  facts;  so 
obtuse  does  sin  render  his  powers  of  moral  or  spir- 
itual perception  (Romans  i.  21);  if  he  could  thus 
adequately  appreciate  it  he  would  not  need  the  power 
of  the  Psalmist's  or  the  Apostle's  persuasive  logic,  or 
manifold  holy  influences,  or  the  pleadings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  induce  him  to  seek  after  God. 

V.  12.  Gone  out  of  the  way  ....  un- 
profitable. The  idea  of  the  preceding  verses  is 
here  repeated  and  strengthened.  ''  Mankind  resem- 
bles a  caravan  which  has  strayed,  and  is  moving  in  a 
direction  opposite  to  the  right  one,  and  whose  mem- 
bers can  do  nothing  (are  unprofitable)  to  help  one 
another  in  their  common  misery." — {Godet)  Isaiah's 
figure  is  that  of  sheep  who  have  strayed  from  the 
leading  of  the  shepherd ;  turned  aside  from  his  way 
into  their  way.     Isaiah  liii.  6. 

V.  13.  Their  throat  is  an  open  sephulcher. 

See  Psalm   v.  9.     Their  throat  is  a  sepulcher  filled 


128  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  13 : — Their  fhi^oat  is  a7i  open  sepulcher ;  with  their 
tongues  they  have  used  deceit ;  the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their 
lips: 

V.  14 : —  Whose  mouth  is  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness : 
V.  15 : — Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood : 
V.  16 : — Destruction  and.  misery  are  in  their  ways  : 
V.  17 : — And  the  way  of  peace  have  they  not  known  : 
V.  18 : — There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes. 

with  foul  corruption,  but  opened  so  that  from  it  pro- 
ceed foul  stenches.  Compare  our  Savior's  words, 
Matt.  XV.  18-20.    The  poison  of  asps.    Psalm  cxl.  3. 

V.  14.  Whose  mouth.  Psalm  x.  7.  In  the  pre- 
ceding verse  the  throat,  the  tongue,  and  the  lips ;  in 
this  verse  the  whole  cavity  of  the  mouth  is  referred  to. 

Vs.  15-17.  See  Isaiah  lix.  7,  8. 

V.  18.  See  Psalm  xxxvi.  i. 

We  see  that  this  Old  Testament  documentary  evi- 
dence which  Paul  adduces  in  favor  of  his  proposition 
— universal  sinfulness — is  a  compilation  from  various 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  The  whole 
passage,  however,  just  as  given  here  is  found  in  The 
Vulgate  of  Sextus  and  Clement,  in  Cranmer's  English 
Version  of  the  Psalms  (and  hence  in  the  Episcopal 
Psalter),  and  in  some  editions  of  the  Septuagint. 

The  reader  will  doubtless  observe  that  in  verse  5 
of  Psalm  xiv.  from  which  the  first  quotations  are 
made,  a  ''generation  of  the  righteous"  is  mentioned, 
and  that  in  Luke  i.  6,  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth  are 
called  "righteous."  Does  not  this  invalidate  Paul's 
argument?  Certainly  not;  for  neither  the  Psalmist 
nor  the  Apostle  is  attempting  to  show  that  no  man  is 
righteous  in  the  sense  that  no  man  can  be  righteous, 
but  they  both  mean  that  no  man  is  righteous  who  has 


Chapter  III.  129 


not  the  righteousness  which  comes  of  faith  and  which 
consists  in  faith,  or,  in  other  words,  who  is  not  "justi- 
fied by  faith."  This  had  been  the  only  way  for  any 
man  to  be  saved,  or  to  be  righteous,  all  along  through 
human  history,  no  matter  whether  he  lived  within  or 
without  the  pale  of  the  Mosaic  law.  The  fact  which 
Paul  so  laments  is  that  man  had  so  utterly  lost  sight 
of  this  way  as  their  corrupt  lives  and  their  hearts,  so 
unable  to  perceive  the  truth,  abundantly  proved  that 
they  had.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  Paul's 
teaching  as  also  that  of  his  Master,  Christ,  was,  not 
that  he  attempted  to  introduce  a  hitherto  unrevealed 
way  to  become  righteous  in  God's  estimation  but^ 
that  he  brought  men's  minds  back  to  the  old  way  so 
repeatedly  stated  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  empha- 
sizing and  pointing  to  it  more  clearly. 

It  should  be  observed  also  that  Paul,  thus  far  in  his 
argument  is  speaking  of  sin,  not  as  original  or  native 
to  the  human  heart,  but  of  the  universal  fact  of  sin 
as  evinced  in  its  universal  manifestation  in  human 
life.  This  wide-spread  fact  existing,  as  it  does,  even 
among  the  best  informed  peoples,  would  of  itself, 
apart  from  any  consideration  of  sin's  originality  in 
the  heart,  be  abundantly  sufficient  to  render  it  im- 
perative that  both  Gentiles  and  Jews  should  be 
urgently  called  away  from  their  helpless  theories  of 
salvation  to  the  old,  the  true,  the  only  way  of  being 
just  or  righteous  before  God.  The  subject  of  original 
sin  or  corruption  Paul  reserves  until  we  reach  chapter 
V.  12  and  following  verses. 

V.  19.  Now  we  know.    A  form  of  speech,  when 
addressed  by  one  to  an  opponent,  has  the  force  of: 
Now  you  will  of  course  admit.  What  things  soever, 
9 


130  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  19 : — Nozv  we  know  that  what  things  soever  the  law 
saith,  it  saith  to  them  who  are  under  the  law :  that  every 
mouth  may  be  stopped,  and  all  the  world  may  become  guilty 
before  God. 

As,  for  instance,  the  prohibition  of  such  a  state  of  life 
and  conduct  as  that  described  in  the  quotations, 
verses  10-18.  The  law.  The  precepts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  whether  contained  in  the  Ten  Command- 
ments or  elsewhere.  It  saith  to.  It  speaks  to  or 
addresses  to.  Them  who  are  under  the  law. 
Those  who  have  the  law  and  are,  as  accountable 
beings,  amenable  to  it.  In  this  instance  the  Jews  are 
meant. 

That,  "  In  order  that,''  not  "  so  that ;  "  the  one 
denotes  a  purpose,  the  other  an  effect  or  result.  The 
apostle  does  not  mean  that  the  effect  or  result  of 
having  the  law  is  to  stop  the  mouth  b}^  taking  away 
the  plea  of  ignorance ;  this  should  be  its  effect,  though 
it  seems  it  did  not  stop  the  mouth  of  the  Jew.  He 
means  that  the  law  speaks  to  those  who  have  it  in 
order  that  they  may  have  no  plea  for  sinning ;  or  in 
other  words,  in  order  that  they  may  be  unable  to  plead 
**  not  guilt3^"  If  they  should  unfortunately  though 
honestly  plead  "not  guilty,"  whereas  they  are  guilty, 
it  would  be  the  same  thing  as  saying  that  they  were 
not  sinners.  But  of  course  the  first  thing  that  a 
sinner  must  do  in  order  to  salvation  is  to  recognize 
himself  as  a  sinner.  All  the  world.  The  Jewish 
world  is  here  particularly  meant,  though  not  exclu- 
sively, the  heathen  world  being  adjudged  by  the  law 
which  they  have  and  which  speaks  to  them.  Chapter 
ii.  14,  15.  May  become  guilty.  May  recognize 
themselves  as  guilty  and  hence  as  subject  to  his  judg- 


Chapter  III. 


131 


N.  20 '.—Therefore  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  there  shall  no 
flesh  be  justified  in  his  sight :  for  by  the  law  is  the  kttowledge 
of  sin. 

ment,  or  under  his  condemnation.     It  is  the  purpose 
of  the  law  to  produce  in  man  this  recognition. 

V.  20.  Therefore,  The  Greek  word  is  dioti;  the 
translation^  "therefore,"  makes  the  first  half  of  this 
verse  to  be  the  conclusion  drawn  either  from  the 
statement  in  verse  19,  or  from  the  whole  preceding 
course  of  reasoning  beginning  back  at  chapter  i.  18. 
This  is  a  good  sense,  and  is  supported  by  the 
Genevan  Version,  and  by  Beza,  Turretin,  Macknight, 
and  other  commentators.  But  the  word  (dioti)  is 
nowhere  else  in  the  King  James  version  translated 
'*  therefore."  It  occurs  in  the  New  Testament 
twenty-two  times,  and  except  in  this  instance  is 
always  rendered  because  or  for,  which  amounts  to  the 
same  thing.  The  Revised  Version  renders  it  because, 
as  does  also  the  Vulgate,  Tyndale,  and  Cranmer,  and 
is  preferred  by  Bengel,  Bloomfield,  Meyer,  Lange, 
Alford,  Wordsworth,  Hodge,  Godet,  Morison,  and  the 
majority  of  modern  commentators.  This  rendering 
makes  the  meaning  to  be  :  Why  is  it  divinely  desired 
that  the  whole  world  should,  as  stated  in  verse  19, 
recognize  and  admit  its  guilty  and  polluted  condition  ? 
Because,  says  verse  20,  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall 
no  flesh  be  justified  in  God's  sight.  This  rendering  is 
to  be  preferred. 

No  flesh.  Nobody,  no  person.  Deeds  of  the 
law.  Outward  conformity  to  law.  This  constitutes 
a  kind  of  personal  righteousness,  such  as  belongs  to 
him  whom  we  call  a  mere  moralist,  but  it  is  not  the 


132  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

sort  of  righteousness  which  renders  a  man  approved 
of  God,  or  justified.     Hence,  there  is  no  contradiction 
between  Paul's  statements  here  and  in  chapter  ii.  13, 
on  which  see  note.     Of  the  two  classes,  the  true  doers 
and  the  non-doers  of  the  law,  the  former  are  the  ones 
who  shall  be  justified,  but  the  righteousness  by  which 
they  shall  be  justified  is  not  the  righteousness  which 
proceeds   out  of  the   deeds  of  the  law.     From   this 
source  righteousness  can  not  proceed  into  the  man 
and  become  such  a  constituent  element  of  him  as  to 
render  him  divinely  approved.     Otherwise  we  might 
as  well  say  that  a  justifying  righteousness  proceeds 
into  us  from  the  act  of  baptism,  for  instance,  merely 
because    baptism    is   a   Christ-appointed    rite.     The 
righteousness  which  must  displace  the  righteousness 
of  the  mere  moralist  or  legalist,  the  righteousness 
which  alone  can  justify  us,  or,  in  other  words,  cause 
us  to    become    the    objects    of   God's    approbation, 
whereas  we  had  been  the  objects  of  his  disapproba- 
tion, is  a  righteousness  which   must   come   into  us, 
becoming   a   constituent   part   of  us,  from   a   source 
which  Paul  does  not  mention  in  this  verse.     And  this 
is  true,  for  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge  of  sin ;  its 
function  is  not  to  justify  us,  but  to  produce  in  us  a 
spiritual  recognition  or  conviction  of  the  fact  that  we 
need  to  be  justified ;  in  other  words,  that  we  are  sin- 
ners  and  hence   disapproved   of  God,    or,    in   other 
words  still,  under  his  condemnation. 

Second  Proposition. 

Salvation  provided  for  all  and  offered  to  all;  or 
God's  saving  righteousness  to  become  man's  in  lieu 
of  man's  own  legalistic  righteousness  on  condition  of 


Chapter  III. 


33 


V.  21 : — Bu^  now  the  righteousness  of  God  without  the  law 
is  manifested,  being  witnessed  by  the  law  and  the  prophets  ; 

faith  in  Jesus  Christ  by  whose  atoning  work  it  became 
possible  for  God  to  make  the  offer  (iii.  21  to  v.  11). 

V.  21.  Paul,  having  now  fully  shown  in  the  discus- 
sion of  his  first  proposition  (p.  84),  that  both  Jews  and 
heathens,  whether  they  possess  the  written  law  or 
only  the  unwritten  law  on  their  hearts,  are  in  a  state 
of  ungodlikeness,  and  hence,  under  divine  disappro- 
bation, proceeds  to  the  positive  side  of  his  argument 
and  sets  forth  the  only  way  whereb}^  they  may  become 
actually  righteous,  viz. :  by  having  infused  into  them 
the  God-righteousness  in  lieu  of  any  so-called  right- 
eousness which  they  may  have  supposed  they  already 
possessed. 

'But  now.  These  words  mark  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  erroneous  conceptions  of  true  righteous- 
ness and  of  the  way  to  be  saved  which  had  hitherto 
prevailed  both  among  Jews  and  heathen,  and  the 
brighter  light  which  is  now  thrown  upon  the  subject 
by  Jesus  Christ  and  the  teachings  of  his  apostles.  It 
is  truly  a  "  sweet  antithesis." 

The  righteousness  of  God,  Versus  the  so- 
called  righteousness  of  the  Jew  or  heathen,  which  is 
not  the  kind  that  God  likes  because  it  is  not  like 
God's.  Hence,  God-righteousness  may  be  taken  as  a 
compound  word  like  self-righteousness  or  man-right- 
eousness. The  former  is  the  kind  that  "justifies"  us, 
for  when  God  sees  that  in  us  which  is  in  himself  he 
approves  us.  When  it  is  in  us  it  is  ours.  It  is 
higher,  purer,  more  comprehensive,  than  the  self  or 
man-righteousness.     Hence,  our  Savior  said :  Except 


134  'I'he  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  22  : — Even  the  righteousness  of  God  which  is  by  faith 
of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all  thetn  that  believe ;  for 
there  is  no  difference  : 

your  righteousness  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  etc. 

Without  the  law.  Apart  from  law.  Law  does 
not  enter  in  any  way  as  an  ingredient  or  element  of 
this  God-righteousness;  if  it  exists  in  man  at  all  it 
exists  in  him  just  as  it  does  in  God — that  is,  as  a 
part  of  himself,  so  to  speak,  his  very  character ;  for  a 
man  righteous  in  this  sense  will  do  right  and  refrain 
from  doing  wrong  whether  any  law  commands  him  to 
or  not.  In  this  sense  also  he  is  free  from  law.  But 
though  this  righteousness  is  apart  from  law,  it  is  not 
apart  from  Christ  "  for  without  [or  apart  from]  me  ye 
can  do  nothing ;  "  apart  from  him  we  can  not  even  be 
*' doers  of  the  law." 

Is  manifested.  More  clearly  made  known,  and 
more  freshly  set  forth  in  the  person  and  teachings  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles.  But  Paul  is  careful  to  state, 
as  we  should  be  careful  to  observe,  that  this  God- 
righteousness  as  the  means  of  salvation,  is  not  now 
manifested  or  made  known  for  the  first  time.  He 
reminds  his  Old  Testament  readers  that  it  ought  not 
to  be  regarded  by  them  as  a  new  and  strange  doctrine, 
for  it  is  abundantly  witnessed  by  the  whole  Old  Tes- 
tament Scriptures — a  fact  with  which  the  Jews  ought 
to  have  been  acquainted.  They  may  have  read  their 
Bible  much,  but  they  did  not  read  it  well,  and  hence, 
they  were  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  There  never 
was  but  one  way  to  be  saved.  Paul  was  still  the  true 
Jew  in  doctrine,  but  his  brother  Jews  were  not. 

V.  22.      I^ven   the   righteousnesSj  etc.     This 


Chapter  III.  135 


V.  23 : — For  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God  ; 

verse  further  defines  the  God-righteousness  of  verse 
21 ;  not  in  its  intrinsic  nature,  but  as  the  God-right- 
eousness which  becomes  ours  through  or  by  means 
of  our  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is,  then,  a  state,  or 
condition,  of  ourselves  as  moral  beings,  and  consists 
in  God-likeness,  and  implies  reconciliation,  or  the 
absence  of  antinomy  between  ourselves  and  God. 
The  expression,  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  does  not 
mean  that  this  righteousness  becomes  ours  through  the 
faithfubiess  of  Jesus  Christ,  although  that  is  true  of 
course  as  a  matter  of  fact ;  it  means  our  faith  in  him ; 
and  this  righteousness  is  manifested  to  all  and  be- 
comes the  actual  possession  of  all  who  exercise  this 
faith. 

There  is  no  difference.  Between  Gentile  and 
Jew,  nominal  Christian  and  heathen  ;  this  righteous- 
ness belongs  to  all  alike  on  the  one  condition. 

V.  23.  For  all  have  sinned,  etc.  That  is, 
there  is  no  difference,  etc.,  for  all  have  sinned.  And 
come  short.  This  verb  is  in  the  present  tense ;  all 
are   fallen   short.      Of  the  glory   of  God.      It  is 

best  to  regard  this  "  glor}^  of  God  "  as  being  the  same 
as  that  mentioned  in  chapter  ii.  7-10,  where  it  is 
coupled  with  honor  and  immortality ,  as  constituting 
eternal  life.  It  is,  then,  in  its  relation  to  man,  the 
inheritance  which  is  incorruptible,  and  undefiled, 
and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  (i  Peter 
i.  4).  The  figure  is,  that  in  running  the  race  for  this 
prize  all  are  fallen  far  short  of  it,  and  hence,  are 
unentitled  to  it.     The  failure  is  due  to  themselves ; 


136  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  24 : — Being  justified  freely  by  his  grace  through  the  re- 
demption that  is  in  Christ  Jesus : 

they  have  loitered,  or  dallied,  or  turned  aside  from  the 
way  into  by-paths.  Or,  to  use  plain  speech  instead 
of  figure,  they  have  been  indifferent,  or  neglectful,  or 
have  had  wrong  theories  of  the  way  to  attain  to  the 
inheritance,  to  which  wrong  theories  they  were 
blindly  attached  by  their  prejudices  (particularly  true 
of  the  Jews  and  many  heathens). 

V.  24.  Being  justified.  It  is  better  to  connect 
this  with  verse  22.  Unto  all  them  that  believe,  being 
justified  freely,  etc.  The  God-righteousness  becomes 
ours  through  our  faith  in  Christ,  and  then  it  consti- 
tutes our  ample  justification.  But  it  becomes  ours 
not  because  we  earn  it,  not  because  by  running  we 
have  attained  to  it,  for  on  the  contrary  we  are  fallen 
short  of  it  and  the  glorious  inheritance  which  it 
secures ;  but  it  becomes  ours  as  a  free  and  gracious 
gift  of  God.  We  might  exercise  faith  (if  such  a  case 
be  conceivable),  and  still  this  righteousness  not  be 
ours  unless  God  should  graciously  see  fit  to  give  it 
to  us. 

Through  the  redemption.  That  is,  through 
the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ,  or  through  Christ 
who  is  our  redeemer,  we  are  justified  in  the  sense 
above  explained.  Sin  is  a  captivity ;  Christ  redeems 
or  delivers  us  from  it.  Sin  is  a  great  curse ;  Christ 
delivers  us  from  it.  Sin  is  bondage,  a  grievous  slav- 
ery; Christ  delivers  us  from  it.  It  cost  him  much 
suffering  to  do  it ;  he  even  gave  his  life  that  he  might 
be  our  ransomer.  Sin  is  viewed  in  many  aspects  by 
Paul,  and  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament,  and  Christ 


Chapter  III.  137 


V.  25 : —  Whom  God  has  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation 
through  faith  in  his  blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness  for 
the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past,  through  the  forbearance 
of  God; 

Stands  in  corresponding  relation  to  them  all.  If  sin 
be  our  disease,  Christ  is  our  physician.  If  sin  be  our 
death,  Christ  is  our  life.  If  sin  be  our  lost  condition, 
Christ  is  our  way.  If  sin  be  "  the  lie,"  Christ  is  "  the 
truth."  If  sin  be  a  power  which  has  dread  mastery 
over  us,  Christ  is  again  our  deliverer.  But  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  the  sin  which  has  dominion  over 
me  is  not  in  fact  one  thing  and  myself  another  thing. 
It  is  only  so  viewed  by  way  of  figure.  The  sin  which 
has  dominion  over  me  is,  in  a  sense,  myself.  And 
when  I  am  delivered  from  this  self  then  I  am  judi- 
cially justified,  or  declared  to  be  justified,  because 
then  I  actually  am  just  or  righteous ;  and  I  am  not 
justified,  in  the  sense  of  being  acquitted,  until  /  a^n 
just  or  righteous,  and  I  am  righteous  as  soon  as  I  am 
redeemed. 

V.  25.  Hath  set  forth.  Not,  set  forth  in  the 
sense  of  "designed"  or  "foreordained;"  nor  does  it 
mean  set  forth  in  the  sense  of  "  formerly  revealed  ;  " 
it  means  to  set  forth  in  the  sense  of  to  exhibit,  or  set 
publicly  forth  so  that  all  maj^  behold  him. 

To  be  a  propitiation.  The  Greek  word  here  is 
hilastario7i,  and  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  only  in 
this  verse  and  in  Hebrews  ix.  5,  where  it  is  rendered 
mercy-seat.  Many  authorities  regard  the  word  as  an 
adjective,  and  many  others  regard  it  as  a  noun.  The 
views  as  to  its  meaning  in  this  verse  are  almost  with- 
out number.     A  few  illustrations  may  be  given  : 


138  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


1.  Propitiator  or  reconciler.  Thus  some  editions 
of  the  Vulgate,  Erasmus,  Cajetan,  Melanchthon. 

2.  A  propitiation.  Thus  our  King  James  Version, 
Beza,  Melville,  the  Geneva  Version. 

3.  Mercy-seat.  Origen,  Theodoret,  Luther,  Tyn- 
dale,  Calvin,  Grotius,  Coccejus,  Vitringa,  Macknight, 
Olshausen,  Lange,  Abbott,  and  many  others. 

4.  Propitiatory  sacrifice.  Meyer,  Ee  Clerc,  Moses 
Stuart,  Alford,  Conybeare,  Bloomfield. 

5.  Propitiatory,  Whom  God  set  publicly  forth  as 
propitiatory,  not  exclusively  as  a  propitiatory  sacrifice, 
but  as  propitiatory  in  his  whole  theanthropic  person- 
ality.    This  is  Dr.  Morison's  view. 

Christ  is  set  forth  as  the  one  who  by  his  inter- 
mingled work  and  suffering  has  power  to  render  God 
(objectively)  propitious.  God  always  loved  man.  He 
was  always  intrinsically  propitious,  but  through  Christ 
he  can  be  outwardly  so  in  his  actual  dealing  with  the 
sinner.  But  it  would  be  better,  perhaps,  to  avoid  the 
distinction  here  made  between  intrinsic  propitious- 
ness  and  outward  or  actual  propitiousness  by  calling 
the  former  simply  love  and  only  the  latter  propitious- 
ness. With  this  understanding  of  terms  we  may 
easily  see  that  God  could  not  have  been  propitious  in- 
dependently of  Christ,  and  of  what  he  did  and  suffered. 
It  was  he  who  by  the  propitiatory  element  in  him 
made  redemption  from  sin  in  all  its  aspects  possible  ; 
and  having  made  redemption  possible,  he  therein 
made  possible  justification  in  its  judicial  sense;  or, 
in  other  words,  he  therein  made  possible  the  removal 
from  us  of  God's  disapprobation.  Being  sinners,  God 
at  the  same  time  loved  us  and  intensely  disapproved 
or  condemned  us.  So  long  as  we  approve  of  sin,  so 
long  must  God  disapprove  us,  so  long  must  his  con- 


Chapter  III.  139 


demnation  rest  upon  us ;  for  in  approving  sin,  relish- 
ing it,  enjoying  it,  we  identify  ourselves  with  it ;  we 
make  sin  and  ourselves  one.  God  can  never  look 
upon  sin  in  the  abstract,  or  sin  as  ourselves,  "  with 
the  least  degree  of  allowance ;  "  and  the  only  way 
whereby  we  can  have  God  look  upon  us  with  allow- 
ance, or  propitiously,  is  to  identify  ourselves  with 
Christ  who  is  set  forth  as  a  propitiator  or  means  of 
propitiation.  The  next  clause  in  the  verse  tells  us 
how  this  identification  of  ourselves  with  Christ  is  to 
be  effected ;  or,  which  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  how 
that  which  is  propitiatory  in  Christ  becomes  available 
to  each  sinner. 

Through  faith  in  his  blood.  By  means  of  faith 
the  object  to  which  the  faith  is  directed,  or  in  which  it 
rests,  being  "his  blood."  Christ  is  a  possible  pro- 
pitiatory means  to  every  sinner,  but  he  is  not  one 
actually  to  any  given  sinner,  except  through  the  sin- 
ner's faith.  In  his  blood.  The  use  of  this  expression 
here  and  elsewhere  by  Paul  (Rom.  v.  9;  Kph.  i.  7; 
Col.  i.  20,  etc.)  indicates  the  emphasis  which  he  places 
upon  ^/le  blood  as  an  element  of  Christ's  propitiatory 
work ;  sometimes,  both  in  the  Gospels  and  Epistles, 
it  is  simply  faith  "  in  Christ,"  but  it  is  Christ  in  his 
totality;  and  whatever  may  be  the  particular  aspect 
emphasized,  "  faith  in  Christ,"  "  faith  in  his  blood," 
etc.,  it  is  always  a  personal  identification  with  Christ 
that  is  meant,  the  identification  of  ourselves  with  sin 
ceasing.  It  is  conceivable  that  the  incarnate  (ihrist 
at  the  close  of  his  public  ministry  might  have  re- 
turned to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  in  any  one 
of  three  ways ;  (i)  by  transfiguration,  (2)  through  the 
gate  of  natural  death,  (3)  death  by  violence.  The 
third  is  the  only  one  that  could  have  prevented  his 


140  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

life-work  from  being  practically,  at  least,  a  failure. 
Whether,  therefore,  we  translate  the  word  (hilastarion) 
mercy-seat,  or  propitiatory,  or  propitiation,  in  any  case 
Christ  in  his  entirety  is  the  only  ground  on  which  we 
can  hope  for  redemption  from  sin  and  the  consequent 
justification. 

To  declare  his  righteousness.  To  prove  or 
demonstrate  his  righteousness ;  no  allusion  here  to  a 
payment  offered  to  justice  in  compensation  for  the 
death  which  sinful  men  have  merited.  F'or  tlie  re- 
mission. Because  of,  or  on  account  of,  the  remission. 
The  word  here  rendered  "  remission  "  is  not  the  usual 
word  for  forgiveness  or  remission  of  sins.  The  word 
here  means  to  pretermit,  to  pass  by,  to  tolerate,  to 
seem  not  to  notice ;  the  usual  word  means  to  forgive 
after  having  taken  due  notice  of,  to  take  away  the  sin 
or  charge  against  one,  to  remit.  That  are  past.  The 
sins  of  the  past  ages  of  mankind  vv^hich  God,  during 
his  long  time  of  forbearance,  pretermitted,  or  seemed 
to  take  little  notice  of. 

So  then  we  may  paraphrase  the  whole  verse :  Being 
justified  ...  by  means  of  the  redemption  that  is 
in  Jesus  Christ,  whom  God  hath  set  forth  publicly  as 
propitiatory,  or  as  a  means  of  propitiation,  the  cause 
in  us  which  renders  it  available  to  us  being  our  faith, 
and  the  cause  in  it  which  renders  it  effective  being  his 
blood ;  and  the  reason  why  God  thus  set  forth  Christ 
as  a  means  of  propitiation  was  that  he  might  demon- 
strate or  vindicate  his  righteousness  against  the  charge 
that  he  had  taken  no  notice  of  the  sins  of  the  past 
ages  of  mankind. 

There  is  no  implication,  however,  that  God  had  not 
in  Old  Testament  times  forgiven  the  sins  of  many  in 
the  same  sense  and  on  the  same  ground  that  he  for- 


Chapter  III.  141 


gives  now ;  but  he  had  done  it,  so  far  as  was  apparent 
to  mankind,  on  the  basis  only  of  a  pledged  propitia- 
tion ;  and  so  long  as  this  pledge  should  remain  unful- 
filled the  forgiveness  could  not  from  man's  stand-point 
be  any  thing  more  than  a  pretermission,  or  passing  by, 
or  overlooking,  of  the  sins.  But  when  the  propitia- 
tion should  cease  to  be  a  promise,  and  become  an 
actual  fulfillment,  then  and  ever  thereafter  would  the 
righteousness  of  God,  his  absolute  antithesis  to  all  sin 
and  disorder,  be  fully  known. 

But  with  this  difiicult  and  deeply  significant  script- 
ure before  us,  and  in  order  that  we  may  inquire  yet 
further  into  its  meaning,  may  we  not  ask :  If  it  had 
been  possible  for  a  man  to  be  of  a  humble  and  con- 
trite spirit,  hating  the  sin  of  which  he  is  possessed, 
independently  of  any  such  proof  of  God's  righteous- 
ness, either  in  promise  or  actually,  would  it  have  been 
possible  for  him  to  find  acceptance  with  God  ?  The 
case  is  supposable,  for  many  heathen,  before  Christ 
and  since,  have  never  known  any  thing  of  any  such 
proof  of  God's  righteousness.  Hence  we  answer  that 
it  would  have  been  possible  for  such  a  sinner  to  find 
acceptance  with  God,  but  it  would  have  been  a  matter 
of  pure  trust  on  his  part,  as  he  had  no  proof  or 
demonstration  of  God's  righteousness  whatever ;  but 
it  would  not  have  been  possible  apart  from  Christ — 
Christ  in  his  totality  of  person  and  work.  But  as  the 
public  setting  forth  of  Christ  referred  to  in  this  verse 
was  postponed  four  thousand  years  without  destroy- 
ing its  validity  and  efficacy,  so  might  it  have  been 
postponed  four  thousand  years  more,  or  even  until 
the  end  of  the  world. 

V.  26.  At  this  time.    The  righteousness  of  God 


142  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  26: — To  declare^  I  say,  at  this  time  his  righteousness : 
that  he  might  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  which  believ- 
eth  in  Jesus. 

V.  27 : —  Where  is  boasting  then  ?  It  is  excluded.  By  what 
law  ?  of  works?    Nay  ;  but  by  the  law  of  faith. 

had  not  formerly  been  so  demonstrated,  and  the  ob- 
ject of  setting  forth  the  propitiation  at  this  time  is  to 
prove  the  righteousness  of  God,  both  in  respect  to  the 
past,  and,  as  stated  in  this  verse,  in  respect  to  the 
present  and  all  time  to  come. 

That  he  might  be  justy  etc.  That  he  might  be 
known  or  recognized  as  righteous  even  in  removing  his 
condemnation  from  the  one  believing  in  Jesus,  and  in 
placing  upon  him  his  approbation.  Luther's  and  Cal- 
vin's idea  is :  That  he  alone  might  be  righteous,  and 
the  one  making  him  righteous  who  believes  in  Jesus. 

V.  27.  Where  is  boasting  then.  In  view  of 
the  preceding  considerations,  especially  of  the  state- 
ments in  verses  25,  26,  where  is  the  vainglorying  of 
Gentiles  and  Jews  ? — glory  in  anj^  other  ground  of  sal- 
vation than  that  of  the  work  of  Christ ;  the  Jews  in 
their  self-righteousness,  the  Gentiles  in  their  wisdom 
(i  Cor.  i.  20).  The  Jews,  however,  seem  to  be  here 
particularl}^  referred  to. 

It  is  excluded.  Shut  out ;  there  is  no  reason 
whatever  for  vainglorying.  By  what  law,  or  prin- 
ciple of  action,  is  this  vainglorjdng  of  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile shut  out  ?  Of  works  ?  Has  it  been  barred  out  by 
a  law  which  enjoins  works  ?  No ;  for  such  a  law  rather 
tends  to  encourage  self-righteousness  and  self-praise. 
It  is  excluded  by  the  law  which  enjoins  faith  or  the 
personal  acceptance  of  the  righteousness  which  God 
would  graciously  impart  to  us  through  Christ. 


CHAPTER  III.  143 


V.  28: — Therefore  we  conclude  that  a  man  is  justified  by 
faith  without  the  deeds  of  the  law. 

V.  29 : — Is  he  the  God  of  the  fews  only  ?  is  he  not  also  of 
the  Gentiles  ?     Yes,  of  the  Gentiles  also : 

V.  30: — Seeing  it  is  one  God,  which  shall  j testify  the  cir- 
cumcision by  faith,  and  uncirctnncision  through  faith. 

V.  28.  Therefore  we  conclude.  In  view,  not 
merely  of  verse  27,  but  of  the  whole  preceding  reason- 
ing, we  conclude,  etc.  The  principle  here  stated  has 
already  been  explained  as  it  appeared  in  former  verses. 
Without  the  deeds  of  law.  Apart  from  the  deeds 
of  the  law.  Righteousness  comes  to  us,  becomes  ours, 
not  merely  ours,  but  a  part,  so  to  speak,  of  our  very 
selves,  by  divine  impartation  or  regeneration  through 
Christ,  and  not  out  of  our  deeds. 

V.  29.  Is  he  the  God  of  the  Jews  only.    Is 

God  the  God  of  the  Jews  only?  No;  as  you  will 
readily  admit,  he  is  the  God  of  the  heathen  also; 
hence  I  rightly  said  "  a  man,"  "  any  man,"  in  verse  28 ; 
for  the  statement  applies  alike  to  all  men. 

V.  30.  It  is  one  God,  Or,  rather,  seeing  that 
God  is  one  who  shall,  etc.  That  God  is  the  only  one 
was  a  fundamental  article  of  the  Jewish  religion,  and 
hence  the  Jews  would  be  compelled  to  admit  that  he 
was  God  over  the  Gentiles  also,  and  must  justify  both 
on  the  same  principle — the  one  "by  faith,"  the  other 
"  through  faith."  Bj/  faith  is  literally  out  of  faith  ; 
through  faith  means  by  7neans  of  faith.  So  far  as  the 
Jew's  becoming  righteous  depended  upon  himself  the 
source  of  his  righteousness  was  his  faith  and  not  his 
circumcision;  so  far  as  the  Gentile's  depended  upon 


144  'I'he  Epistle  to  thk  Romans. 

V.  31  : — Do  we  then  make  void  the  law  through  faith  ?  God 
forbid :  yea,  we  establish  the  law. 

himself  he  obtained  it  by  means  of  his  faith,  and  the 
fact  that  he  was  uncircumcised  was  no  hindrance. 

V.  31.  We  establish  the  law.  Instead  of  the  law 
being  made  of  no  effect  by  the  teaching  of  verse  30,  it 
is  only  the  more  firmly  established  thereby,  and  in  two 
ways;  (i)  by  taking  away  from  it  the  function  of  pro- 
ducing righteousness  which  the  Jews  had  erroneously 
attributed  to  it,  and  relegating  it  to  its  proper  func- 
tion of  revealing  sin  and  guiding  to  Christ ;  (2)  by  im- 
planting in  us  the  principle  of  spiritual  or  heart  obe- 
dience to  it,  in  lieu  of  the  mere  formal  or  outward 
obedience.  If  the  law  has  our  heart's  respect  and 
allegiance,  it  is  more  firmly  established  than  if  it 
had  not. 

The  Case  of  Abraham. 

Having  in  the  preceding  section  elaborated  his  doc- 
trine of  salvation  by  grace  through  faith  versus  the 
doctrine  of  salvation  by  the  works  of  the  law,  Paul 
proceeds  to  further  establish  his  thesis  by  considering 
the  Old  Testament  testimony  concerning  Abraham. 
There  could  not  be  any  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  Jew 
that  Abraham  was  approved  of  God,  and  hence  saved. 
Now,  if  Paul  could  show  that  he  was  approved  on  his 
theory  or  doctrine  of  salvation,  and  not  on  that  of  the 
Jew,  the  honest  Jew  could  not  fail  to  see  that  the 
argument  was  altogether  against  him. 

But  Paul  does  even  more  than  this :  He  shows  that 
Abraham  owed  not  only  his  righteousness,  but  his  in- 
heritance, and  also  his  posterity,  to  his  faith ;  and  then 


Chapter  IV.  145 


Chap.  IV.,  V.  I : —  IVkai  shall  we  say  then  that  Abraham  our 
father^  as  pertaining  to  the  fleshy  hath  found? 

V.  2 : — For  if  Abraham  were  justified  by  works^  he  hath 
whereof  to  glory ;  but  not  before  God. 

he  applies  Abraham's  case  to  us  also  who  believe,  etc. 
We  may,  therefore,  exhibit  the  contents  of  this  chap- 
ter as  follows : 

1.  Abraham's  righteousness  due  to  his  faith.  Vs. 
1-12. 

2.  Abraham's  inheritance  due  to  his  faith.     13-16. 

3.  Abraham's  posterity  due  to  his  faith.     17-22. 

4.  The  case  applied  to  believers  of  the  present. 
23-25- 

Vs.  I,  2.  What  shall  we  say  then.  In  view  of 
the  exclusion  of  boasting,  or  glorying,  on  the  part  of 
the  Jew,  and  of  the  equality  before  God  of  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  what  shall  we  say?  etc.  The  words  "as 
pertaining  to  the  flesh "  are  to  be  construed  with 
"Abraham  our  father."  The  question  is  one  which  a 
Jew  does  not  really  ask,  for  he  would  scarcely  have 
called  Abraham  "  our  fleshly  father ;  "  but  Paul  puts 
the  question,  as  it  were,  in  the  mouth  of  a  Jew,  and  in 
doing  so  shapes  it  as  he  wishes,  making  Abraham 
their  fles/tfy  father,  because  of  the  point  he  will  make 
after  a  while  that  Abraham  is  the  spiritual  father  of 
believing  Gentiles ;  and  that,  after  all,  it  is  better  to 
have  him  for  one's  spiritual  father  than  to  have  him 
merely  as  one's  fleshly  father.  Such  is  the  construc- 
tion called  for  by  the  King  James  and  Revised  Ver- 
sions. It  is  proper  to  say,  however,  that  the  Ameri- 
can Revision  Committee,  and  many  commentators,  as 
Bengel,  Macknight,  Conybeare,  Godet,  Meyer,  Hodge, 
10 


146  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  3  : — For  what  saith  the  Scripture  ?  Abraham  believed 
Gody  and  it  was  counted  unto  him  for  righteousness. 

V.  4 : — Now  to  him  that  worketh  is  the  reward  not  reckoned 
of  grace,  but  of  debt. 

Clarke,  etc.,  would  rather  read:  That  Abraham,  our 
father,  hath  found  or  gained  by  the  fleshly  ordinance. 
The  other  view  seems  to  me  to  be  preferable,  as  being 
entirely  in  harmony  with  the  whole  course  and  spirit 
of  Paul's  argument  which,  as  Alford  truly  says,  *'  is 
not  to  limit  the  paternity  of  Abraham  to  a  mere  flesh- 
ly one,  but  to  say  that  he  was  the  spiritual  father  of 
all  believers."  With  this  view  agree  Giffbrd,  Lange, 
Calvin,  Locke,  Chrysostom,  etc. 

'Hath  found.  Which  kind  of  righteousness  hath 
he  found,  that  of  faith  or  that  of  works ;  for  if  he  was 
justified  by  works,  as  we  Jews  hold,  he  has  cause  to 
glory,  and  hence  glorying  is  not  excluded  (iii.  27). 
But  Paul  interprets :  He  may  have  cause  for  glorying 
in  the  estimation  of  the  Jews,  but  not  before  God,  for 
the  righteousness  which  he  obtained  was  not  that  of 
works,  but  that  of  faith — a  statement,  too,  which  I 
make  (he  says)  on  the  evidence  of  your  own  scripture, 
/or  what  saith  the  Scripture  f     It  says  this  : 

V.  3.  Abraham,  believed  God,  Had  faith  in 
God,  independently  of  any  promise,  even  when  God's 
command  was  apparently  in  deadly  opposition  to  his 
promise,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac.  And 
it  was  counted.  The  faith  was  reckoned  to  him 
for  righteousness  because  it  was  righteousness. 

V.  4.  To  him  that  worketh,  etc.  In  the  case 
of  one  that  works  for  hire  what  he  receives  is  earned, 
and  not  a  matter  of  gracious  bestowal.    This  is  a  prin- 


Chapter  IV.  147 


V.  5 : — But  to  him  that  worketh  noty  but  believeth  on  him 
ihat  justifieth  the  ungodly ^  his  faith  is  counted  for  right- 
eousness. 

ciple  of  common  life,  which  applies  no  less  truly  in 
the  spiritual. 

V.  5.  Bnt  to  him  that  worketh  not.    To  him 

who  works  not  for  hire  whatever  he  receives  is  received 
as  an  expression  of  grace  or  favor.  So  there  are  only 
two  supposable  ways  of  obtaining  righteousness ;  one 
way  is  for  a  man  to  make  himself  righteous,  the  other 
is  for  God  to  make  him  so.  If  he  makes  himself 
righteous  by  his  own  works ;  or,  to  put  it  otherwise, 
if  his  righteousness  consists  in  his  works,  it  is  some- 
thing for  which  he  owes  no  thanks  to  God ;  but  if 
God  makes  him  righteous,  his  righteousness  is  a  mat- 
ter of  grace,  and  the  only  condition,  as  stated  in  this 
and  verse  3,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  is  his  faith ;  and 
because  he  has  faith  God  regards  him  as  righteous. 
That  is,  God  regards  him  as  righteous  because  he  is 
so.  If  this  seems  to  be  the  same  as  saying  that  the 
condition  of  man's  righteousness  is  his  righteousness, 
it  is  only  because  of  the  double  senses  in  which  the 
usage  or  weakness  of  language  renders  it  neces- 
sary for  us  to  employ  words.  A  man's  having  right- 
eousness is  the  only  condition  upon  which  to  be 
righteous,  and  the  only  condition  upon  which  he  can 
be  declared  so,  and  thought  so,  or  counted  so.  Abra- 
ham had  this  righteousness,  all  the  elements  of  which 
may  be  summed  up  in  the  one  word  "  faith ;  "  and  God 
counted,  or  regarded,  it  just  as  acceptable  and 
pleasing  to  him  as  if  Abraham  had  made  himself 
righteous  by  his  works — far  more  so,  indeed,  for  mere 


148  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  6 : — Even  as  David  also  describeth  the  blessedness  of  the 
man,  unto  whom  God  imputeth  righteousness  without  workSy 

outward  conformity  to  law  did  not  necessarily  in  any 
case  touch  the  inward  character,  whereas  the  other 
did.  But,  to  make  the  matter  still  clearer  and  more 
conclusive  in  regard  to  Abraham,  he  was  declared  to 
be  righteous  on  account  of  his  faith  long  before  there 
was  any  law  or  ordinance  of  circumcision — while  he 
was  yet  a  Gentile,  as  it  were. 

V.  6.  Even  as  David.  This  is  not  a  new  argu- 
ment, but  a  quotation  from  another  great  and  favorite 
Jewish  character  confirmatory  of  the  argument  drawn 
from  Abraham's  case.     See  Psalm  xxxii. 

Impute,  This  word  occurs  in  this  and  verse  8 — 
to  "  impute  righteousness,"  to  "  impute  sin ; "  it  does 
not,  of  course,  mean  "to  impart,"  for  the  Psalmist 
could  not  speak  of  the  Lord  as  imparting  or  not  im- 
parting sin.  It  is  the  same  word  which  in  verses  3,  5, 
is  rendered  "  counted."  It  is  the  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  word  (hashak)  meaning  to  think,  regard,  or 
consider.  God  "  imputes  "  righteousness  to  one  apart 
from  his  legalistic  works  in  the  sense  that  he  regards 
him  as,  or  thinks  of  him  as,  righteous  apart  from 
such  works.  But  he  does  not  regard  him  as  righteous 
apart  from  what  the  apostle  calls  "  faith,"  and  the 
Psalmist  "a  guileless  spirit."  The  words  "without 
works  "  do  not  occur  in  the  Psalm,  but  the  apostle 
regards  them  as  being  plainly  implied,  for  if  the  works 
were  all  right  there  would  then  be  no  need  of  for- 
giveness ;  but  there  is  need  of  forgiveness  (see  next 
verse) ;  hence  the  "  works  "  instead  of  being  right  are 
wrong.     Therefore  the  righteousness  is  not  acquired ; 


Chapter  IV.  149 


V.  7 : — Saying,  Blessed  are  they  whose  iniquities  are  for- 
given, and  whose  sins  are  covered. 

V.  8  : — Blessed  is  the  man  to  whom  the  Lord  will  not  im- 
pute sin. 

hence  it  is  gratuitously  imparted;  and  hence,  again, 
God  can  truly  think  of  the  man  as  righteous  because 
he  made  him  so. 

Vs.  7,  8.  Iniquities,  This  is  the  word  which  may 
particularly  suggest  the  phrase  "  without  works  "  (of 
the  law),  at  the  end  of  verse  6.  The  Greek  word 
means  things  done  contrary  to  law,  or  transgressions. 
No  sin  can  be  committed,  whether  of  omission  or 
commission,  without  the  law  being  transgressed,  and 
when  it  is  desired  to  view  sin  in  this  aspect  it  is  called 
transgression.  F'or given.  To  forgive  sin  is  to  re- 
mit or  take  away  sin,  as  the  Greek  word  here,  and  its 
synonym  elsewhere,  means.  Covered,  Our  sins  are 
said  to  be  covered  when  thej^  are  pardoned,  or,  in 
other  words,  when  they  are  concealed,  as  it  were, 
from  the  divine  eye,  so  that  he  no  longer  sees  them 
as  a  charge  against  us  for  which  we  are  to  be  pun- 
ished, "lyord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge ;  "  and 
they  are  not  imputed  when  they  are  thought  of  as  if 
they  had  not  been  committed;  and  they  are  thus 
thought  of  because  they  are  taken  away  and  pardoned. 
They  are  remembered  against  us  no  more ;  he  has  cast 
them  behind  his  back ;  as  far  as  the  east  is  from  the 
west  so  far  hath  he  removed  our  transgressions  from 
us.  These  are  familiar  Old  Testament  expressions 
which  correspond  respectively  " to  forgive"  and  "to 
pardon."  Sin,  considered  in  its  relation  to  the  divine 
will,  is  called  guilt,  and  to  this  aspect  of  it  the  word 
cover,  or  pardon,  is  more  especially  applicable;  and 


150         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  9  : — Cometh  this  blessedness  then  upon  the  circumcision 
only,  or  upon  the  uncircumcision  also  ?  for  we  say  that  faith 
was  reckoned  to  Abraham  for  righteousness. 

V.  10: — How  was  it  then  reckoned?  when  he  was  in  cir- 
cumcision^ or  in  uncircumcision  ?  Not  in  circumcision^  but 
in  uncircumcision. 

V.  1 1 : — And  he  received  the  sign  of  circumcision,  a  seal  of 
the  righteousness  of  the  faith  which  he  had  yet  beihg  uncir- 
cum,cised :  that  he  might  be  the  father  of  all  them  that  be- 
lieve y  though  they  be  not  circumcised ;  that  righteousness 
might  be  imputed  unto  them  also : 

V.  12 : — And  the  father  of  circum,cision  to  them,  who  are 
not  of  the  circumcision  only,  but  who  also  walk  in  the  steps 
of  that  faith  of  our  father  Abraham,  which  he  had  being  yet 
uncircum,cised. 

when  it  is  pardoned  the  divine  condemnation  or  dis- 
approbation is  removed  from  us,  and  we  are  said  to  be 
"  cleared,"  acquitted,  or  justified,  or  approved,  because 
we  are  actually  no  longer  guilty  of  that  in  respect  to 
which  we  had  hitherto  been  the  objects  of  condemna- 
tion. Hence,  the  Bible  sometimes  speaks  of  our  guilt 
being  canceled.  Sin,  viewed  in  its  relation  to  the 
divine  holiness,  is  called  pollution,  and  hence  such 
words  as  *' filthy  rags,"  **  uncleanliness,"  "putrefying 
sores,"  etc.,  and  the  corresponding  words  "to  cleanse,"^ 
"to  wash,"  "to  purge,"  "to  take  away,"  etc.  Of 
course  the  fundamental  idea  is  practically  the  same 
throughout;  but  it  is  often  necessary  to  distinguish 
these  various  aspects  of  the  subject  in  order  to  appre- 
ciate the  language  of  the  Scriptures  and  avoid  confu- 
sion of  thought.  Sin  is  an  awful  thing,  and  must  be 
looked  at  from  many  points  of  view  in  order  to  be 
somewhat  adequately  seen.  It  can  never  be  wholly^ 
seen  until  we  can  see  it  as  God  sees  it. 


Chapter  IV.  151 


Vs.  9-12.  In  these  verses  Paul  shows  (i)  that  this 
blessedness  of  Abraham,  which  consists  in  being 
righteous  and  regarded  as  righteous,  is  not  in  any  way 
to  be  attributed  to  his  circumcision,  it  being  expressly 
stated  that  he  was  so  regarded  before  his  circumcis- 
ion ;  and  that  instead  of  his  righteousness  being  due 
to  his  circumcision,  his  circumcision  was  due  to  his 
righteousness,  and  was  only  the  outward  sign  and 
seal  of  it. 

He  shows  (2)  that  the  blessedness  of  such  righteous- 
ness was  not,  therefore,  intended  to  be  restricted  to 
those  who  were  circumcised,  but  was  equally  the  priv- 
ilege of  the  uncircumcised  who  should  have  a  like 
faith  with  Abraham's. 

V.  II.  The  father  of  all  them  that  believe. 

The  spiritual  father  as  distinguished  from  the  fleshly 
father  of  the  Jews,  as  suggested  in  note  on  verse  i. 

V.  12.  And  the  father  of  circumcision,  Abra- 
ham received  the  sign  of  circumcision,  and  subse- 
quently to  his  being  declared  righteous,  for  two  pur- 
poses. The  first  is  stated  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
preceding  verse;  the  second  is  here  stated,  namely, 
that  he  might  be  not  merely  the  fleshly  but  also  and 
especially  the  spiritual  father  of  those  Jews  who  were 
not  only  circumcised,  but  also  and  especially  had  a 
like  faith  with  Abraham.  Hence,  we  may  add,  his 
being  the  spiritual  father  of  the  uncircumcised  Gen- 
tiles who  have  faith,  and  the  circumcised  Jews  who 
have  faith,  makes  him  the  spiritual  father  of  all  the 
faithful,  and  it  makes  all  the  faithful  brethren. 

V.  13.  Heir  of  the  world.     Abraham's  inher- 


152         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  13 : — For  the  promise,  that  he  should  be  the  heir  of  the 
worlds  was  not  to  Abraham,  or  to  his  seed,  through  the  law^ 
but  through  the  righteousness  of  faith. 

V.  14 : — For  if  they  which  are  of  the  law  be  heirs,  faith  is 
made  void,  and  the  promise  made  of  none  effect : 

itance.  What  is  here  meant  by  "the  world?"  The 
Land  of  Canaan,  as  a  type  of  the  universal  dominion 
of  the  Messiah,  say  Meyer  and  many  other  commen- 
tators. The  earthly  Canaan  and  its  antetype,  the 
heavenly,  say  Macknight  and  others.  The  land  of 
Canaan,  and  all  that  was  embraced  in  the  various 
promises.  Gen.  xii.  3;  xxii.  17,  18;  xxvi.  3,  4  (Ps.  ii. 
8) — all  of  which  was  promised  to  Abraham,  and  hence 
his  heirship  was  not  earned  by  his  obedience.  This 
seems  to  be  essentially  the  view  of  Godet,  and  it  is 
the  preferable  one.  The  promise  will  reach  its  com- 
plete fulfillment  "  when  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
are  given  to  the  people  of  the  Most  High,  and  Christ 
will  rule  with  his  saints  for  ever  and  ever;  "  Dan.  ii. 
27,  etc.  {Schaff). 

V.  14.  -For  iff  etc.  The  meaning  may  be  best 
presented  by  a  paraphrase :  What  I  said  in  the  pre- 
ceding verse  is  true ;  for  if  the  heirship  of  the  world 
is  earned  by  obedience  to  law,  faith  is  emptied  of  all 
its  substance,  and  there  can  be  no  significance  in 
those  scriptures  in  which  it  is  said  his  faith  was 
counted  to  him  for  righteousness;  and  more  than 
this,  the  promise  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed  becomes 
of  no  effect  whatever,  for  what  one  has  earned  by 
works  is  bestowed  not  as  a  matter  of  promise,  but  as 
wages  due. 

V.  15.  Because  the  law,  etc.     Another  reason 


Chapter  IV.  153 


V.  15  : — Because  the  law  worketh  wrath  :  for  where  no  law 
is,  there  is  no  transgression. 

V.  16: — Therefore  it  is  of  faith,  that  it  might  be  by  grace  ; 
to  the  end  the  promise  might  be  sure  to  all  the  seed ;  not  to 
that  only  which  is  of  the  law,  but  to  that  also  which  is  of  the 
faith  of  Abraham  ;  who  is  the  father  of  us  all, 

is  assigned  why  Abraham's  heirship  or  inheritance 
could  not  have  been  through  the  law ;  for  the  out- 
come of  the  law  is  wrath.  Then  follows  an  explana- 
tion of  why  this  is  so :  Where  no  law  is  there  is 
no  transgression,  and  where  no  transgression  is 
there  is  no  punishment  or  wrath.  The  opposite  is 
implied,  that  where  there  is  law  there  is  sure  to  be 
transgression,  and  hence  wrath. 

The  Revised  Version,  and  many  commentators  on 
the  authority  of  several  fourth  century  manuscripts, 
read  "  but "  instead  of  "  for,"  in  which  case  the  apos- 
tle's meaning  becomes:  Because  the  law  worketh 
wrath,  dut  where  no  law  is  there  is  no  transgression — 
that  is,  where  the  promise  is  there  is  no  transgression, 
and  hence  no  wrath.  The  opposites  are  law  versus 
promise,  wrath  versus  heirship  or  inheritance ;  if  the 
law  works  wrath,  it  can  not  work  inheritance ;  if  the 
promise  does  not  work  wrath,  it  does  work  inherit- 
ance. The  two  readings  yield  the  same  sense,  but  as 
an  argument  the  latter  is  simpler  and  more  forcible. 

V.  16.  Therefore,  etc.  Having  proved  that  the 
inheritance  is  a  matter  of  promise,  not  a  thing  earned 
by  works,  the  apostle  now  says:  In  order  that  the 
bestowment  of  the  inheritance  might  proceed  from 
grace  on  God's  part,  therefore  it  is  caused  to  proceed 
from  faith  on  man's  part  to  the  end  that  the  promise 
might  be  sure  of   fulfillment  to  all  of  Abraham's 


154         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans 

V.  17 : — {As  it  is  written,  I  have  made  thee  a  father  of  many 
nations,)  before  him  whom  he  believed,  even  God,  who  quick- 
eneth  the  dead,  and  calleth  those  things  which  be  not  as  though 
they  were: 

V.  18 : —  Who  against  hope  believed  in  hope,  that  he  might' 
become  the  father  of  many  nations,  according  to  that  which 
was  spoken.  So  shall  thy  seed  be. 

spiritual  seed ;  for  it  is  certain  that  there  could  have 
been  no  bestowment  had  it  been  conditioned  on  obe- 
dience, because  no  man  could  possibly  have  thus 
earned  it. 

That  which  is  of  the  law,  means  the  believ- 
ing Jews.  That  which  is  of  the  faith  of  Abra- 
ham, means  the  believing  Gentiles. 

V.  17.  As  it  written.  This  quotation  from  Gen^ 
xvii.  5,  is  made  in  proof  of  the  statement  just  made 
that  Abraham  is  the  father  of  us  all.  Before  him^ 
Before  God,  or  in  the  sight  or  estimation  of  God- 
Abraham  is  the  spiritual  father  of  us  all  before  God, 
who  quickeneth  the  dead.  The  promise  that 
Abraham  should  be  the  father  of  many  nations  was 
made  when  he  was  old,  and  Isaac  was  not  yet  born ; 
but  the  present  tense  "quickeneth,"  "calleth,"  pre- 
sents these  facts  as  if  they  were  at  the  time  actually 
being  accomplished.  Isaac  was  the  child  of  miracle. 
Abraham's  faith  in  God  was  such  as  to  enable  him  to 
embrace  the  fact  that  God  could  overcome  nature. 

V.  18.  Against  hope  believed  in  hope.  This 
strong  apparent  contradiction  (oxymoron)  means 
simply  that  Abraham,  having  no  natural  ground  of 
hope  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise,  believed  that 
God  by  his  almighty  power  could  make  dead  nature 


Chapter  IV. 


155 


V.  19 : — And  being  not  weak  in  faith,  he  considered  not  his 
own  body  now  dead,  when  he  was  about  a  hundred  years  oldy 
neither  yet  the  deadness  of  Sarah's  womb  : 

V.  20: — He  staggered  not  at  the  promise  of  God  through 
unbelief;  but  was  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God; 

work  its  fulfillment,  and  also  that  he  would  do  so,. 
That  he  might  become.  To  the  end  that  he 
might  become.  This  was  the  end  not  only  to  which 
God  looked,  but  also  to  which  Abraham  looked. 

V.  19.  Being  not  weak  in  the  faith.  Being 
strong  in  the  faith.    He  considered  not  his  own 

body,  etc.  That  is,  the  thought  of  the  deadness  of  his 
body  was  no  obstacle  to  his  faith.  Gen.  xvii.  15-21. 
The  Revised  Version,  Godet,  Gifford,  and  others,  on  the 
evidence  of  strong  external  authority,  omit  the  word 
"  not,"  and  read :  He  considered  the  deadness  of  his 
body  ....  but  staggered  not  in  his  faith.  The 
meaning  is  evidently  the  same  in  either  case,  for  of 
course  the  text  as  it  stands  in  the  King  James  and 
Received  Greek  Text  does  not  imply  that  Abraham 
was  not  aware  of  the  deadness  of  his  body  and  of 
Sarah's  womb. 

V.  20.  Giving  glory  to  God,  Admitting  and 
depending  upon  his  almighty  power  over  phys- 
ical nature,  as  stated  in  the  next  verse.  The  glory 
which  Abraham  gave  to  God  was  that  he  could 
and  that  he  would  fulfill  the  promise — the  glory  of 
faithfulness  (or  truth)  and  power.  Was  strong  in 
faith.  The  word  rendered  "was  strong,"  rather 
means  to  wax  or  grow  strong.  His  faith  grew  strong 
by  trial,  rising  equal  to  every  emergency.     A  doubt- 


156  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  21 : — And  being  fully  persuaded,  that  what  he  had  prom- 
ised, he  was  able  also  to  perform. 

V.  22 : — And  therefore  it  was  imputed  to  him  for  right- 
eousness. 

ing  man  is  a  weak,  staggering,  man  ;  a  man  of  strong 
faith  is  a  strong  man. 

V.  22.  And  therefore.  That  is,  Because  he  had 
strong  faith  in  God  and  thus  gave  glory  to  God,  and 
therein  was  pleasing  to  God,  his  faith  was  counted  or 
reckoned  in  his  favor  as  righteousness.  To  "  impute  " 
does  not  mean  to  mentally  attribute  to  one  that  which 
he  has  not.  Abraham  had  very  strong  faith,  and  it 
was  his  faith  that  was  "imputed"  to  him,  and  in 
God's  thought  or  estimation  it  was  righteousness; 
hence  it  must  really  have  been  righteousness.  The 
only  two  supposable  ways,  according  to  Paul,  whereby 
a  man  could  be  constituted  righteous  are  by  his  works 
or  by  his  faith.  If  his  faith  constitutes  him  right- 
eous, and  this  righteousness  is  merely  imputed  right- 
eousness, in  the  sense  of  a  kind  of  make-believe 
righteousness,  then  we  must  use  the  same  formula  of 
words  in  respect  to  works,  and  say  God  imputed  his 
works  as  righteousness — that  is,  he  was  not  really 
righteous  by  his  works,  but  God  merely  thought  of 
him  as  righteous ;  and  hence  in  neither  of  the  only 
two  supposable  ways  can  man  become  really  right- 
eous. But  the  object  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is 
to  prove  that  by  works  a  man  can  not  be  righteous  or 
approved  of  God,  and  hence  that  by  his  faith  he 
can  be. 

Vs.  23-25.  Abraham's  case  applied  to  present  be- 


Chapter  IV.  157 


V.  23  : — Now  it  was  not  written  for  his  sake  alone,  that  it 
was  imputed  to  him  ; 

V.  24 : — But  for  us  also,  to  whom,  it  shall  be  im,puted,  if  we 
believe  on  hitn  that  raised  up  fesus  our  Lord  from,  the  dead ; 

V.  25 : —  Who  was  delivered  for  our  offenses,  and  was  raised 
again  for  our  justification. 

lievers.  IB^or  his  sake  alone.  That  is,  this  fact  that 
it  was  his  faith  which  constituted  him  righteous  in 
God's  sight,  as  the  statement  of  a  principle,  does  not 
apply  to  Abraham  merely,  but  it  applies  to  and  was 
written  for  the  encouragement  of  all  who  have  a  like 
faith  with  Abraham.  Faith,  it  should  be  observed, 
here  denotes  not  so  much  the  act  of  believing  as  the 
habitual  state  or  character  of  Abraham  in  his  relation 
to  God  and  spiritual  things. 

V.  24.  To  us  also.  To  all  believers.  To  whom 
it  shall  be  imputed,  A  like  faith  with  Abraham's 
shall  be  in  God's  sight  a  like  righteousness,  no  matter 
who  it  is  that  has  such  faith,  whether  Jew  or  heathen. 
That  raised  up  Jesus.  The  test  of  Abraham's 
faith-relation  to  God  was  the  promise  that  a  seed 
should  be  raised  up  from  his  dead  loins  in  whom  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  The  test 
of  our  faith-relation  to  God  is  that  he  "raised  up 
Jesus  from  the  dead."  The  test  in  our  case  is  no 
more  difficult  than  in  Abraham's,  for  it  is  a  miracle  in 
both. 

V.  25.  Who  was,  etc.  The  apostle  here  states 
why  the  test  of  our  faith-relation  is  that  God  raised 
up  Jesus  from  the  dead,  rather  than  some  other  mir- 
acle.    Was  delivered  for  our  offenses.     Was 


158         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

delivered  by  the  Father  (chap.  viii.  32),  or  by  himself, 
acting  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  Father,  on 
account  of,  or  because  of,  our  trespasses,  as  the  word 
"'  offenses  "  here  means.  There  is  no  sin  that  is  not  a 
trespass ;  and  to  call  sin  a  trespass  is  to  view  it  in  one 
of  its  many  aspects.  Christ  is  our  "trespass  offer- 
ing." Paul  here  states  that  the  Jesus  whose  divine 
resurrection  we  are  to  believe  is  the  Jesus  who  was 
delivered  unto  death  on  account  of  our  offenses.  jPor 
our  justi£cation.  On  account  of  our  justification. 
If  Jesus  be  not  risen  we  are  yet  in  our  sins  (i  Cor.  xv. 
17);  if  we  are  not  yet  in  our  sins — that  is,  if  we  are 
justified,  then  Jesus  is  risen,  and  he  is  risen  because  of 
our  justification.  If  our  sins  guaranteed  (so  to  speak) 
his  death,  the  fact  that  his  death  accomplished  the 
intended  result  (our  justification)  guaranteed  his  res- 
urrection. For  if  he  had  been  such  a  Jesus  as  that 
his  death  could  not  have  accomplished  the  intended 
result,  he  would  also  have  been  such  a  Jesus  as  God 
would  not  have  raised  from  the  dead. 

Paul,  both  in  the  Acts  and  in  his  Epistles,  uniformly 
lays  great  stress  on  the  evidential  value  of  the  resur- 
rection, as  well  as  on  the  Savior  as  risen.  We  can 
not  believe  that  he  who  was  crucified  was  the  Savior 
without  believing  that  he  was  raised,  nor  can  we  be- 
lieve the  latter  without  believing  the  former.  So  far 
as  the  death  of  Christ  stood  in  relation  to  God,  it 
would  have  accomplished  its  purposed  result,  we  may 
suppose,  even  though  he  had  returned  to  the  Father 
forever  immediately  at  the  moment  of  his  death,  with- 
out his  body  ever  being  raised ;  but  so  far  as  it  stood 
in  relation  to  man,  his  death  would  have  been  in  vain 
without  his  resurrection.     Hence,  Paul  sometimes  at- 


Chapter  IV.  159 


tributes  redemption  to  his  death,  and  sometimes  to 
his  resurrection,  from  which  we  may  certainly  infer 
that  in  some  sense  both  were  necessary.  The  com- 
plete Christ  Jesus  was  necessary  to  constitute  a  com- 
plete Savior  —  complete  in  his  personality,  in  his 
office,  and  in  his  work.  But  in  the  verse  before  us 
the  word  for  {dia  with  the  accusative)  in  the  two  ex- 
pressions "  for  our  offenses,"  and  "  for  our  justifica- 
tion," can  not  of  itself  determine  the  nature  of  the 
connection  between  our  oflfenses  and  his  death,  or  our 
justification  and  his  resurrection.  The  word  simply 
states  a  connection,  and  we  must  infer  that  it  was 
necessary,  as  neither  the  death  nor  the  resurrection 
were  mere  incidents  which  might  as  well  not  have 
occurred. 

The  Preservation  op  the  Bei^iever. 

(Chap,  v.,  i-ii.) 

This  chapter  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  prin- 
cipal parts;  the  first  ending  with  verse  11,  the  second 
continuing  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  In  the  first 
part  we  have  the  conclusion  of  the  discussion  of  the 
Second  Proposition,  begun  in  chapter  iii.  21.  Com- 
mentators differ  as  to  the  special  teaching  of  these 
eleven  verses.  Lange,  Olshausen,  and  others,  hold 
that  the  purpose  of  the  apostle  is  to  set  forth  the 
fruits  of  the  justification,  or  righteousness,  which  as 
he  has  shown,  is  offered  to  all,  and  may  be  the  actual 
possession  of  all  on  condition  of  faith.  These  fruits, 
they  say,  are  peace,  hope  of  glory,  patience,  etc.  '  Oth- 
ers hold  that  the  apostle's  purpose  is  to  show  that  the 
salvation  which  has  become  the  present  possession  of 
the  believer  is  also  a  sufficient  and  final  salvation; 


i6o         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap,  v.,  V.  I : — Therefore  being  justified  by  faith ^  we  have 
peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  fesus  Christ  : 

sufficient  and  final  because  the  continued  preserva- 
tion of  the  believer  in  the  saved  state  and  its  final 
consummation  are  certain.  There  is,  therefore,  no 
longer  any  ground  for  apprehension  of  divine  wrath, 
or  of  fear  that  his  justification  will  not  be  valid  in  the 
day  of  judgment.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  the 
more  correct  of  the  two  views.  Paul  does  not  mean 
to  call  the  attention  of  his  readers  to  the  fruits  of 
justification  as  such,  but  rather  to  the  nature  of  justi- 
fication in  respect  to  its  sufiiciency  as  a  present  and 
final  security  against  the  wrath  of  God. 

V.  I.  Therefore  being  justi£ed.  The  mean- 
ing is :  Inasmuch,  therefore,  as  we  are  justified  by 
faith  in  the  manner  and  in  the  sense  set  forth  in  the 
preceding  section,  we  are  transferred  out  of  our 
former  state  of  unrest  and  fear  into  a  state  of  peace 
in  respect  to  God.  We  have  no  need  to  indulge  evil 
forebodings  as  to  whether  this  sentence  of  approba- 
tion which  God  has  pronounced  upon  us  will  be  sud- 
denly and  arbitrarily  revoked  at  some  future  time,  or 
at  the  last  day. 

As  between  the  two  readings  '*  we  have  peace,"  in 
the  King  James  Version,  and  ''  let  us  have  peace,"  in 
the  Revised  Version,  the  former  is  to  be  preferred. 
It  is  not  an  exhortation,  but  a  declaration  that  we  do 
have  peace.  Peace  is  henceforth  our  right.  There  is 
absolutely  no  longer  any  ground  for  unres.t  or  fearful 
apprehension. 

Through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  That  is,  it 
is  through  or  by  means  of  the  ever-living  Christ  that 


Chapter  V.  i6i 


V.  2  : — By  whom  also  we  have  access  by  faith  into  this  grace 
wherein  we  stand,  and  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God. 

V.  3  : — And  not  only  so,  but  we  glory  in  tribulations  also  ; 
knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  patience ; 

we  have  now,  and  shall  ever  have,  this  peace  with 
God.     "  My  peace  I  give  unto  you." 

V.  2.  By  whom  also.  Through  whom  also.  The 
verb  **  we  have,"  in  verse  i,  is  in  the  present  tense; 
we  have  now  and  ever  have  peace ;  the  verb  "  we 
have"  in  this  verse  is  in  the  perfect  tense.  The 
meaning  is,  through  whom  also  we  have  had,  etc. 
We  have  already,  at  some  past  time,  through  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  way,  had  access  to  the  favor  or  approba- 
tion of  God  in  which  we  now  are,  and  in  which  we 
shall  abide.     These  words  are  addressed  to  believers. 

And  rejoice.  The  Revised  Version  here  also  un- 
necessarily reads  "  let  us  rejoice."  Not  only  do  we 
have  peace,  but  we  also  do  have  as  our  privilege  the 
joyful  hope  of  all  the  blessings  which  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  words  "the  glory  of  God." 

Notice  that  Christ  is  presented  in  this  and  the 
former  verse  as  being  the  one  through  whom  (i)  we 
have  had  and  continually  have  access  to  that  grace  or 
favor  of  God  which  consists  in  the  possession  of  his 
approbation,  or,  in  other  words,  justification ;  (2)  as 
the  one  through  whom  we  have  peace. 

V.  3.  Not  only  so,  but.  We  do  even  more  than 
rejoice  in  hope,  we  rejoice  in  tribulation.  The  word 
**  we  glory  "  in  this  verse,  is  the  same  as  "we  rejoice  " 
in  verse  2.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  rejoice  be- 
cause of  our  tribulations,  but  in  spite  of  them,  or  in 
the  midst  of  them ;  so  that  it  is  possible  for  the  be- 
II 


i62         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


V.  4: — And  patience  y  experience  ;  and  experience,  hope: 


liever  to  "  rejoice  alway ;  "  Phil.  iv.  4;  Matt.  v.  11,  12. 
Macknight,  Bloomfield,  and  others,  have  observed 
that  the  apostle  dwells  on  this  subject  of  rejoic- 
ing in  affliction  because  the  Jews  thought  that 
adversity  was  a  mark  of  God's  displeasure,  and  that 
it  ill  suited  the  kingdom  of  their  Messiah.  The 
words,  therefore,  are  especially  well  calculated  to  en- 
courage his  Jewish-Christian  readers. 

Tribulation  worketh  patience.  Only  that 
grows  which  is  exercised.  Afflictions  call  our  pa- 
tience into  exercise,  and  thereby  develop  it  more  and 
more.  Knowing  that  good  may  come  to  him  from 
life's  severe  pressures,  the  Christian  ma}^  after  all, 
rejoice  not  only  in  spite  of  them,  but  in  a  certain 
sense  because  of  them,  and  this,  although  no  chasten- 
ing in  itself,  "  seemeth  good  for  the  present."  See  2 
Cor.  iv.  17,  which  verse  Paul  had  written  before  he 
sent  these  words  to  the  Romans. 

V.  4.  Experience.  This  word  here  means  proba- 
tion, or  proof.  Patient  endurance  of  trials  is  a  test 
of  our  character  as  Christians.  The  word  here  ren- 
dered "experience"  also  means  approbation,  and  to 
obtain  the  apostle's  meaning  more  clearly  we  should 
rather  combine  the  two,  probation  and  approbation. 
Patient  endurance  of  trials  is  such  a  test  or  proof  of 
character  as  shows  the  character  to  be  approved  of 
God.  And  as  this  patience  can  be  wrought  into  the 
character,  not  by  oral  teaching,  but  only  by  actual 
affliction,  so  neither  can  the  character  be  otherwise 
tested.  He  who  has  never  been  tried  does  not  know 
himself,  and  hence  to  this  extent  he  has  no  valid 


Chapter  V.  163 


V.  5: — And  hope  maketh  not  ashamed;  because  the  love 
of  God  is  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
which  is  given  unto  us. 

V.  6 : — For  when  we  were  yet  without  strength^  in  due 
time  Christ  died  for  the  ufigodly. 

V.  7  : — For  scarcely  for  a  righteous  mafi  will  one  die :  yet 
per  adventure  for  a  good  fnan  some  ivould  even  dare  to  die. 

V.  8 : — But  God  commendeth  his  love  toward  us,  in  that, 
while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us. 

V.  9 : — Much  more  then,  being  now  justified  by  his  bloody 
we  shall  be  saved  from  wrath  through  him. 

ground  for  hope  or  expectation  of  a  glorious  future 
with  God.  But  the  moment  this  hope  is  produced  in 
him,  then  may  he  begin  to  rejoice ;  and  thus  we  are 
brought  back  to  the  apostle's  statement  in  verse  2. 

V.  5.  And  hope  maketh  not  ashamed.  That 
is,  this  hope  shall  not  end  in  disappointment,  and  the 
reason  why  it  shall  not  end  in  disappointment  is  the 
fact  that  God  himself  is  the  source  of  it;  and  that 
God  is  the  source  of  it  is  shown  by  the  further  fact 
that  he  is  the  object  of  God's  love  ;  and  he  may  know 
himself  to  be  the  object  of  God's  love  by  the  fact  that 
he  has  the  Holy  Spirit  in  him,  who  is  the  medium 
through  whom  God  reveals  his  love  for  us  in  our 
hearts  ever  illuminating  and  warming  our  inmost  lives. 
Hence,  there  need  be  no  apprehension  on  the  part  of 
the  one  justified  by  faith  of  finding  himself  to  be  the 
object  of  God's  disapprobation  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. 

Vs.  6-9.  jPor  whenf  etc.  In  these  verses  the 
apostle  further  confirms  his  statement  that  the  be- 
liever's hope  of  final  salvation  is  well  grounded.  If 
when  we  were  yet  without  strength  to  earn  salvation 


164         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

by  the  works  of  the  law,  as  the  Pharisees  say  we  must 
do ;  if  while  we  were  yet  in  an  unjustified  state ;  if 
Christ  so  loved  us  as  to  die  for  us  while  we  were 
yet  ungodly  ;  much  more,  etc.,  see  verse  9. 

V.  6.  Without  strength.  Not  without  strength 
to  commit  sin,  but  without  strength  to  deliver  our- 
selves from  sin  ;  unable  to  acquire  salvation  by  obedi- 
ence to  the  law.  In  due  time.  The  apostle  simply 
tells  us  that  at  the  right  time  Christ  died  for  the  un- 
godly ;  he  does  not  tell  us  why  it  was  that  God  con- 
sidered it  to  be  the  right  time.  Several  reasons  might 
be  suggested,  but  the  reader  may  perhaps  easily  think 
of  them  for  himself.  We  ma}^  be  sure  that  God  never 
does  any  thing  either  too  soon  or  too  late.  But  man 
himself  is  a  factor  in  the  redemption  of  his  own  race ; 
and  had  the  human  race,  with  or  without  conscious 
reference  thereto,  more  speedily  adjusted  itself  to 
God's  redemptive  work  the  "  fullness  of  time  "  might 
have  arrived  sooner  than  it  did.  As  man  may  now 
hasten  the  answer  to  his  own  praj'^er  that  Christ  may 
soon  come  again  to  the  world  in  yet  greater  display 
of  power  and  glory,  so  might  it  have  been  possible 
for  man  to  have  hastened  the  time  of  his  first  coming. 

V.  7.  Righteous  man.  One  who  acts  simply  ac- 
cording to  the  requirements  of  justice.  Good  man. 
One  who  is  not  simply  just,  but  also  kind  and  benev- 
olent. For  the  former  one  would  hardly  die,  for  the 
latter  one  might  possibly  die.  But  God's  love  excels 
this.     See  next  verse. 

V.  8.  Commendeth.  Exhibits,  or  manifests.  His 
love.  In  contrast  with  the  human  love  of  verse  7, 
Paul  is  not  meaning  here  to  afiirm  or  deny  that  God's 


Chapter  V.  165 


gift  of  his  Son  to  die  for  sinful  man  stood  in  any  rela- 
tion to  his  justice.  Whatever  else  it  may  have  been, 
the  apostle  here  simply  declares  that  it  was  an  act  of 
God's  love,  as  Christ  himself  says  in  John  iii.  16.  But 
neither  love  nor  justice  is  any  thing  apart  from  God 
who  is  justice  and  who  is  love.  God  as  justice  can 
not  do  an}'  thing  which  God  as  love  forbids ;  nor  can 
God  as  love  do  any  thing  which  God  as  justice  for- 
bids. God  is  one  Being,  and  there  is  no  conflict  in 
his  nature ;  and  he  is  subject  to  no  law,  or  compul- 
sion, or  necessity,  extraneous  to  himself.  But  truth 
is  many  sided ;  and  in  order  to  reveal  its  several  as- 
pects it  may  be  necessar}-  at  one  time  to  speak  of  it  in 
relation  to  God  considered  as  one  who  loves,  and  at 
another  in  relation  to  him  considered  as  one  who  is 
just.  The  human  sense  of  justice  with  which  God 
himself  has  endowed  us  will  not  allow  us  to  believe 
that  it  would  have  been  just  in  God  to  permit  a  cor- 
rupt race  of  beings,  without  any  concurrence  of  their 
own  wills,  continuall}'  to  be  born  into  the  world,  and 
yet  provide  for  them  no  w^a}'  of  salvation.  And  we 
know  that  God  did  not  do  this.  Had  there  been  any 
inscrutable  reason  why  he  could  not  provide  salvation 
for  fallen  man  he  would  not  have  created  him  in  the 
first  place,  much  less  would  he  have  permitted  the 
race  to  continue  and  multiph\ 

Christ  died  for  us.  The  w^ord  here  rendered 
**  for,"  as  in  verse  7,  means  ni  our  behalf.  Here  again 
the  apostle  presents  one  aspect  of  a  truth  so  large 
that  it  can  not  be  expressed  by  one  word ;  Christ  also 
died  "  on  account  of  us,"  "  on  account  of  our  sins," 
etc.  And  in  a  sense,  he  also  died  "  in  our  stead,"  or 
in  our  place.  That  is,  he  died  that  we  might  not  die 
eternally ;  and  whatever  one  does  in  behalf  of,  or  for 


i66  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

the  benefit  of,  another,  he  does  vicariously,  or  in 
other  words,  disinterestedly.  But  what  one  does 
vicariously  for  another,  is  not  necessarily  done  as  a 
substitute  in  such  a  sense  that  the  other  person  can 
not  also  do  the  same  for  himself,  though  instances  are 
quite  conceivable  in  which  such  might  be  the  case. 
Christ  suffered  in  order  that  I  might  not  suffer  the 
eternal  punishment  of  sin ;  but  to  say  this,  does  not 
require  us  also  to  say  that  Christ  himself  suffered  this 
punishment.  But  if  there  had  never  been  any  sin 
Christ  would  not  have  suffered,  neither  would  I. 
Christ  suffered  on  account  of  sin  as  it  existed  in 
others ;  I,  on  account  also  of  my  own.  Christ's  suf- 
ferings were  unselfish,  disinterested,  which  is  to  say^ 
they  were  vicarious ;  mine  are  not,  only  in  so  far  as  I 
voluntarily  suffer  in  order  to  prevent,  or  relieve, 
another  from  suffering.  So  Christ  suffered  and  died 
for  the  ungodly :  and  this  is  what  we  mean  when  we 
say  that  he  died  in  their  stead.  The  ungodly  ones 
who  never  by  faith  accept  Christ,  or  identify  them- 
selves with  Christ,  will  also  suffer  eternally  in  their 
own  place.  But  in  the  verse  before  us  the  apostle 
makes  no  allusion  to  penalty,  or  to  the  nature  of 
Christ's  death  in  any  respect;  his  purpose  here  is 
simply  to  say  that  it  was  purely  a  disinterested  act, 
being  induced  by  no  selfish  consideration  whatever. 

God  commendeth  his  love  to  us  in  that  .... 
Christ  died  for  us.  God  regarded  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ  as  the  sacrifice  of  himself. 

V.  9.  Much  more  then.  These  words  refer  back 
to  verse  6,  the  idea  of  vs^hich  is  restated  in  verse  7. 
Being  justi£ed  by  his  blood.  This  is  not  a  con- 
tradiction of  chapter  iv.  25,  wherein  it  is  said  that  he 


Chapter  V.  167 

Y  10 : — For  if,  when  we  were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled 
to  God  by  the  death  of  his  Son  ;  much  more,  being  reconciled, 
we  shall  be  saved  by  his  life. 

was  raised  again  for  our  justification.  "  His  blood  " 
refers  to  the  death  of  verse  8.  "  Being  justified,"  or 
being  put  into  a  state  of  justification,  stands  in  con- 
trast with  being  sinners  of  verse  8.  If  God  could  so 
deal  with  us  while  we  were  yet  sinners  as  to  place  us 
in  a  justified  state  how  much  more  reasonable  is  it  to 
believe  that  being  in  this  justified  state  he  will  save 
us  in  the  great  day  of  final  judgment.  The  fact  that 
we  are  no  longer  under  divine  condemnation  but  are 
in  the  justified  state,  objects  of  God's  approbation,  is 
due  on  the  one  hand  to  Christ's  blood  and  on  the 
other  to  our  faith,  but  to  faith  Paul  does  not  here 
make  any  allusion  because  he  is  presenting  the 
divine  and  not  the  human  side  of  the  matter.  The 
subject  of  his  thought  is  the  certainty  of  the  believer's 
salvation  at  the  last  day,  and  the  ground  of  this  cer- 
tainty is  in  God  and  not  in  the  believer  himself, 
Christ  still  lives,  and,  as  living,  will  carry  forward 
this  salvation  to  its  consummation.  Gal.  ii.  20,  Heb. 
vii.  25 ;  John  xiv.  19. 

V.  10.  -For  ify  etc.  An  emphatic  restatement  of 
verses  6,8,9.  Mnemies,  Compare  the  terms ' '  with- 
out strength,"  "  ungodly,"  "  sinners,"  in  the  verses 
mentioned.  We  were  neither  just  nor  good  (verse  7) 
we  were  ungodly,  sinners,  even  enemies.  The  being 
"  reconciled "  in  this  verse  corresponds  to  being 
"  justified  "  in  verse  9.  The  sinner  in  his  capacity  of 
one  guilty  and  under  condemnation  is  said  to  be  justi- 
fied—that is,  the  condemnation  is  removed  and  he  be- 


i68         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

comes  the  object  of  God's  favor  or  approbation. 
When  he  is  spoken  of  as  "  enemy  "  the  natural  term 
to  be  used  is  "  reconciliation."  The  sinner  may  be 
truly  spoken  of  in  both  capacities;  for  he  who 
violates  God's  law  and  thus  comes  under  condemna- 
tion is  necessarily  to  be  regarded  as  opposed  to  God's 
law ;  and  he  who  is  opposed  to  God's  law  is  opposed 
to  God  himself,  for  God  and  his  law  are  one.  Christ's 
blood  (verse  9),  or  his  death  (verse  10),  is  the  ground 
or  means  on  God's  part  whereby  both  the  justification 
and  the  reconciliation  are  to  be  effected,  if  effected  at 
all.  But  if  while  we  were  yet  guilty  and  condemned 
and  also  at  enmity  with  God,  his  love  should  make 
such  advances  toward  us  as  to  render  it  possible  for 
us  to  be  justified  and  reconciled,  how  much  easier  is 
it,  humanly  speaking,  for  him  to  preserve  us  to  the 
end.  The  argument  is  from  the  greater  to  the  less, 
from  the  more  difficult  to  the  less  difficult. 

But  while  the  unjustified  and  unreconciled  sinner  is 
thus  called  an  "  enemy  "  of  God,  it  must  not  be  sup- 
posed that  the  apostle  means  to  teach  that  the 
'*  enmity"  is  all  on  one  side.  That  God  is  "  angry  " 
with  the  wicked  every  day,  is  stated  in  substance 
everywhere  in  the  Bible.  He  loves  the  sinner  as  a 
man,  as  the  father  loves  his  wayward  son  as  a  son. 
He  does  not  love  him  as  a  drunkard,  or  as  otherwise 
disobedient.  If  God  loved  the  sinner  as  a  sinner  he 
would  have  arranged  no  way  whereby  the  sinner 
might  be  otherwise  than  a  sinner.  But  in  his 
capacity  as  a  sinner  he  can  only  be  the  object  of  God's 
eternal  disapprobation,  or  wrath;  and  these  are  the 
reasons  why  God  himself  instituted  a  plan  whereby, 
continuing  to  be  a  man,  he  might  cease  to  be  a  sinner 
— in  the  sense  of  one  guilty  and  unreconciled. 


Chapter  V.  169 


V.  II :  And  not  only  so,  but  we  also  joy  in  God  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  we  have  now  received  the  atone- 
ment. 


Saved  by  his  life.  Now  God's  love  for  the  man 
is  unqualified  by  an}'  counter  feeling  due  to  the  man's 
former  character  or  status  as  one  ungodl}'  and  at 
enmity,  for,  "justified  by  the  death  of  his  Son,"  he  is 
"saved  by  his  life"  as  freely  as  if  he  had  never  been 
a  sinner.  The  word  "saved"  here  denotes  "preser- 
vation," or  continuance  in  God's  favor  to  the  end. 
Christ  lives  to  be  his  continual  helper,  and  the  fact 
that  Christ  lives  is  a  pledge  of  the  Christian's  final 
salvation.  "Because  I  live  ye  shall  live  also."  John 
xiv.  19. 

V.  II.  And  not  only  so,  etc.  We  not  only  live, 
but  we  live  rejoicingly.  We  not  only  have  peace,  we 
rejoice  in  hope,  we  not  only  rejoice  in  tribulatioii,  but 
we  also  rejoice  in  God  himself,  in  what  he  is  in  him- 
self—a God  of  such  love,  mercy,  wisdom,  holiness, 
and  various  infinite  perfections.  So  the  believer  no 
longer  has  any  thing  to  fear  from  God.  Through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  rejoice  through  Christ 
because  we  owe  all  to  Christ;  it  is  he  who  enabled 
and  who  ever  enables  us  to  rejoice. 

By  whom  we  have  now  received  the  atone- 
ment Through  whom,  through  whose  agency  or 
work.  Notice  the  word  now;  not  an  object  of  hope, 
(verse  2),  but  a  present  possession  and  cause  for  pres- 
ent joy.  The  word  atonement  is,  in  the  Greek,  the 
same  as  reconciliation,  and  is  so  translated  in  verse 
10.  The  Revised  Version  renders  it  "  reconciliation" 
here.     It  is  not  rendered  "atonement"  elsewhere  in 


lyo  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

the  King  James  Version,  nor  does  the  word  atonement 
as  a  rendering  of  any  other  word  elsewhere  occur. 
"We  have  received  the  reconciliation"  means  that  we 
have  been  reconciled  to  God  through  the  death  of  his 
Son,  as  stated  in  verse  lo.  The  "  we  "  is  not  the  human 
race,  but  the  believer.  This  whole  section  (verse 
i-ii)  is  addressed  to  believers.  The  greater  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  become  believers,  the  greater  is  the 
number  included  in  the  "we."  The  Apostle  simply 
states  the  connection  between  the  death  of  Christ  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  reconciliation  and  justification 
on  the  other ;  as  one  might  say  simply  that  the  earth 
is  attracted  by  the  sun,  the  weight  is  lifted  by  a  lever, 
etc.  The  verses  contain  no  hint  whatever  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  connection;  and  so  far  as  the  great 
practical  question  of  being  justified,  reconciled,  and 
saved  ever  onward,  even  through  the  great  Judgment 
day,  is  concerned,  it  does  not  matter  whether  we  know 
the  nature  of  the  relation  between  the  cause  and  the 
effect  or  not.  That  is  a  question  of  what  is  called 
speculative  theology,  as  the  nature  of  universal  attrac- 
tion is  a  question  of  speculative  physics,  which  the 
physicists  long  since  ceased  to  discuss. 

Third  Proposition — The   Universality  op  the 
Provided  Salvation. 

(Chap,  v.,  1 1-2 1.) 
Having  in  the  preceding  section  fully  set  forth  his 
doctrine  of  justification  by  grace  through  faith,  and 
having  concluded  it  in  the  first  part  of  this  chapter 
with  an  argument  for  the  preservation  of  the  believer 
through  all  the  future,  even  in  the  great  day  of  wrath, 
the  Apostle  proceeds  in  this  section  to  prove  that  sal- 
vation is  provided  for  all  men,  including  the  Gentiles, 


Chapter  V.  171 


V.  12 : —  Wherefore^  as  by  one  man  sin  entered  mto  the  worlds 
and  death  by  sin  ;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that 
all  have  sinned. 

and  not  merely  for  the  Jews.  He  bases  his  argument 
here  on  the  universality  of  sin.  The  two  terms  of 
comparison  are  Adam  and  Christ,  and  the  connection 
in  which  the  Apostle  places  these  is  a  logical  one,  and 
not  a  mere  juxtaposition.  We  may  differ  in  opinion 
as  to  how  it  became  so,  whether  b}^  mere  heredity  or 
otherwise,  but  Paul  here  states  the  fact,  without  ex- 
planation, that  sin  is  a  racial  matter.  Whatever  may 
be  affirmed  of  Adam  may  be  affirmed  of  every  man. 
I  am  not  guilty  of  Adam's  sin.  But  Adam  became 
corrupt  and  guilty,  and  I  have  become  corrupt  and 
guilty.  If  Adam  had  not  become  so,  I  might  not 
have  become  so.  My  corruption  began  in  his,  and 
in  this  sense  I  sinned  in  him.  So  did  every  man.  In 
this  respect  the  human  race  is  a  unit.  So  is  the  of- 
fered salvation  a  racial  matter.  Every  man  needs 
salvation,  because  every  man  is  a  member  of  the  race. 
Salvation  is  offered  to  every  man  because  it  is  offered 
to  the  race.  The  whole  includes  all  the  parts,  and 
not  merely  this  or  that  nation,  or  this  or  that  individ- 
ual. The  provision  is  as  broad,  as  deep,  as  abundant 
as  the  disease.  The  offer  is  made  to  the  race,  and  to 
each  member  of  the  race  alike.  The  "atonement," 
or  provided  salvation,  is  unlimited  in  its  sufficiency. 
Such  in  brief  is  the  substance  of  this  section.  That 
this  provision  is  limited  in  its  efficiency  by  man's 
free  will,  and  by  that  alone,  is  true;  but  on  this  point 
the  Apostle  in  this  section  does  not  touch. 

V.  12.  Wherefore.  Or  "therefore,"  as  the  Revised 
Version  has  it.     Literally,  "on  this  account,"  or  "for 


172         Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

this  reason."  The  Apostle  introduces  a  logical  infer- 
ence, deduced  from  the  foregoing  exposition  of  the 
efficacy  of  Christ's  death  and  life.  We  may  perhaps 
best  paraphrase  his  thought  thus:  "What  I  have  said 
in  the  foregoing  exposition  of  the  efficacy  both  of  the 
death  and  life  of  Christ  is  true;  therefore  it  follows 
that  as  sin  and  death  came  into  the  world  through  the 
one  man  Adam,  so  do  justification  and  life  come 
through  the  one  man  Christ  Jesus."  It  would  not 
have  been  just  on  the  part  of  God  to  permit  the 
human  race  to  come  into  existence  after  Adam  had 
sinned,  and  be  a  unit  in  its  experience  of  the  sin  and 
death  which  flow  from  Adam's,  had  he  not  also  re- 
garded the  race  as  a  unit  in  Christ,  and  in  the  offisred 
righteousness  and  life  which  come  through  him. 
Hence,  as  by  the  one  man  Adam,  etc.  (verse  12),  so 
by  the  one  man  Jesus  Christ,  etc.  (verses  15-18). 

-By  one  man.  Through  the  disobedience  of  the 
one  man  Adam.  Sin  entered.  The  sin,  the  evil 
something  called  sin — sin  in  its  most  general  sense, 
which  includes  all  specific  forms.  Perhaps  the  best 
name  for  it  is  spiritual  or  moral  corruption.  The  first 
man  having  thus  by  his  own  act  become  of  a  corrupt 
nature,  if  he  is  permitted  to  have  a  posterity,  it  also 
must  have  the  same  nature,  for  every  thing,  if  it  repro- 
duce itself  at  all,  must  reproduce  after  its  kind  and  in 
its  own  image.  Hence,  there  was  but  one  of  tvro 
things  which  God,  consistently  with  his  holy  perfec- 
tions, could  do.  He  must  either  cause  Adam  to  be  not 
only  the  first  man,  but  also  the  last  one,  or  he  must, 
in  making  provision  for  the  restoration  of  one  mem- 
ber of  the  race,  therein  make  provision  for  the  restora- 
tion of  every  member. 

Death  by  sin.     As  Adam  was  the  cause  or  start- 


Chapter  V.  173 


ing  point  of  sin  as  it  exists  in  the  human  race,  so  sin, 
as  it  exists  in  the  human  race  is  the  cause  of  human 
death.  The  death  here  meant  is  physical  human 
death.  So  it  seems  to  me  for  the  following  briefly 
stated  reasons : 

1.  In  its  literal  and  usual  import  the  word  death 
means  physical  death,  though  of  course  the  word  is 
sometimes  in  the  Bible  used  in  a  figurative  sense,  as 
in  the  expression,  "the  second  death." 

2.  "  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return," 
was  not  written  of  the  soul  as  distinguished  from  the 
body.  It  is  only  another  way  of  saying,  ''  Thou  shalt 
die,"  and  to  Adam  it  was  a  very  clear  way  of  saying 
it,  for  he  was  doubtless  more  familiar  with  his  phy- 
sical origin  than  he  was  with  what  was  now  to  be  his 
physical  destination.  Paul  evidently  had  this  passage 
in  Genesis  in  his  mind. 

3.  "  Spiritual  death  "  is  only  another  name  for  ''  sin," 
or  moral  corruption,  as  the  word  is  used  in  this  verse. 
If  "spiritual  death"  may  be  here  substituted  for 
"  death,"  we  should  have  a  tautology  thus :  Moral  cor- 
ruption entered  into  the  world,  and  moral  corruption 
by  moral  corruption ;  and  so  moral  corruption  passed 
upon  all,  for  that  all  became  morally  corrupt.  The 
only  meaning,  it  seems,  that  we  can  attach  to  "  spir- 
itual death"  is  that  of  a  state  of  moral  corruption, 
and  this  is  at  least  only  an  aspect  of  sin. 

4.  Had  Adam  and  the  race  continued  in  the  sinless 
state,  the  members  of  the  ever-multiplying  race  might 
have  been  transfigured  and  translated  from  earth, 
through  another  way  than  that  which  we  now  call 
death.  The  apostle,  in  this  passage,  has  no  necessary 
reference  to  the  death  of  brutes;  nor  is  the  view 
which  we  have  taken  of  his  meaning  at  all  opposed 


174  'i'HE  KPISTI.K  TO  THE  ROMANS. 

to  the  doctrine  that  some  brutes  were  created  for  the 
purpose  of  being  killed  and  eaten  by  sinless  man. 
The  body  of  sinless  man  was  not  intrinsically  immor- 
tal or  changeless,  any  more  than  was  the  body  of  the 
sinless  Christ,  who  needed  and  ate  flesh  and  other 
food. 

For  that  all  have  sinned.  Inasmuch  as  all 
have  sinned ;  or  better,  inasmuch  as  all  sinned.  This 
does  not  mean,  however,  that  I  am  guilty  of  Adam's 
sin,  or  that  I  committed  Adam's  sin.  The  Calvinist, 
as  such,  does  not  necessarily  believe  this,  whatever 
may  be  the  belief  of  any  individual  Calvinist.  Nor 
do  the  words  necessarily  mean  that  any  given  human 
being  has  committed  any  sin  at  all.  The  infant  and 
born  idiot  have  not.  The  passage  simply  means  that 
every  human  being,  infants,  idiots,  and  all  others,  are 
included  within  the  scope  of  the  consequences  of 
Adam's  sin.  His  own  spiritual  corruption  and  mor- 
tality were  forever  entailed  on  his  posterity.  If  there 
is  any  human  being,  infant,  idiot,  or  rational  adult,  of 
whom  this  is  not  true,  then  there  is  one  human  being 
for  whom  Christ  did  not  die,  and  for  whom  Christ 
does  not  live,  and  who  has  no  part  nor  lot  in  Christ. 
In  this  sense,  and  in  this  sense  alone,  so  far  as  the 
infant  is  concerned,  may  it  be  said  that 

"  In  Adam's  fall 
We  sinned  all," 

just  as  the  stream  may  have  received  its  beginnings 
of  corruptions  from  its  very  fountain.  But  as  a 
rational  adult,  I  may  not  only  sin  myself,  but  I  may, 
as  it  were,  re-commit  Adam's  sin  by  identifying  myself 
with  it,  even  as  one  may  identify  himself  with  a  crim- 
inal, making  the  criminal's  guilt  his   guilt  without 


Chapter  V.  175 


V.  13: — {For  until  the  law  sin  was  in  the  world :  but  sin  is 
not  imputed  when  there  is  no  law. 

V.  \/^\— Nevertheless  death  reigned  from  Adam  to  Moses, 
£ven  over  them  that  had  not  si7ined  after  the  similitude  of 
Adam's  tra7isgression,  who  is  the  figure  of  him  that  was  to 
come. 

having  committed  the  criminal's  very  act.  And  hence 
it  may  be  said  that  in  dealing  with  Adam  God  was 
dealing  with  Adam's  race.  Only  in  this  sense  have 
the  obscure  and  hence  the  unfortunate  terms  "impu- 
tation," "representative,"  "federal  head,"  etc.,  as 
applied  to  Adam,  any  proper  meaning. 

Vs.  13,  14.  ^or  until  the  laWy  etc.  The  mean- 
ing of  these  two  verses  can  perhaps  be  best  presented 
in  a  paraphrase,  thus  :  Death  is  caused  by  sin,  I  say, 
even  the  death  of  those  who  lived  before  the  law  was 
given  through  Moses,  for  sin  was  in  the  world  during 
all  the  centuries  prior  to  this,  although  men  did  not 
impute  or  reckon  it  against  themselves  as  sin,  and 
although  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  did  not  sin  after  the 
similitude  of  Adam' s  sin — that  is,  they  did  not  violate  the 
direct  and  explicit  command  which  Adam  did.  But 
they  all  died,  and  that  proves  that  they  all  sinned. 
And  the  fact  they  all  sinned  was  brought  about  by 
the  fact  that  Adam  sinned.  Adam,  who,  in  thus  em- 
bodying, as  it  were,  the  whole  race  in  himself,  and 
thus,  as  it  were,  acting  for  the  whole  race,  is  a  figure 
or  type  of  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  who  embodies  the 
whole  race  in  himself,  so  that  in  providing  pardon  and 
life  for  one  he  provides  the  same  for  all.  As  Adam 
was  the  source  of  sin  and  death  to  all  mankind,  so  is 
Christ  the  only  possible  source  to  all  mankind  of  right- 
eousness and  life.     The  unitv  or  solidarity  of  all  man- 


176         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  15  : — But  not  as  the  offence,  so  also  is  the  free  gift :  for 
if  through  the  offence  of  one  many  be  dead,  much  more  the 
grace  of  God,  and  the  gift  by  grace,  which  is  by  one  maUy 
Jesus  Christ,  hath  abounded  unto  many. 

kind  in  the  latter  is  based  by  Paul  on  the  unity  of  the 
race  in  the  former.  That  is,  in  short,  the  universality 
of  what  we  call  the  "  atonement "  of  the  one — to  wit, 
Christ,  is  here  based  on  the  universality  of  the  sin  of 
the  one,  to  wit,  Adam.  And  yet  there  is  a  difference 
in  the  parallelism,  as  stated  in  the  next  verses.  We 
may  say  here,  however,  that  while  the  human  race, 
including  every  individual  member  of  it,  must  inev- 
itably be,  in  the  above  sense,  involved  in  Adam,  any 
individual  member,  if  he  so  choose,  may  indorse  in 
his  wicked  heart  Adam's  sin,  and  thus,  apart  even 
from  any  inherited  sinfulness,  make  himself  a  party 
to  it,  and  thus  sever  himself  from  the  scope  of  the  uni- 
versal provision  made  in  Christ. 

Who  is  the  Ggure,  etc.  That  is,  Adam  was  the 
figure  or  type  of  Christ.  In  what  respect?  This: 
As  Adam  was  the  primal  source  of  sin  and  death  to 
the  whole  human  race,  so  is  Christ  the  primal  source 
of  righteousness  and  immortality  to  the  whole  race. 
As  Adam  in  this  sense  acted  for  the  whole  human 
race  so  does  Christ  include  within  himself  the  whole 
race  ;  what  he  did  for  one  man  he  did  for  all.  This  is 
the  only  extent  to  which  the  parallelism  holds. 

V.  15.  But  not  as  the  offence.  Not  as  Adam's 
offence  so  the  offered  salvation  in  Christ.  Of  one. 
The  one — ^to  wit,  Adam.  Many,  The  human  race. 
By  one  man.  By  the  one  man — to  wit,  Jesus  Christ. 
Unto  many.  Unto  the  many — to  wit,  the  human 
race.    The  grace  of  God  here  is  that  disposition  of 


Chapter  V.  .^^ 


177 


V.  i6  '.—And  not  as  it  was  by  one  that  sinned,  so  is  the  gift : 
for  the  judgment  was  by  07ie  to  condemnation,  but  ike  free 
gift  is  of  many  offences  unto  justification. 


love  which  caused  God  to  offer  to  the  human  race  the 
gift  of  salvation  through  Christ. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Apostle  in  this  verse  goes 
beyond  the  parallelism  of  verses  12-14  between  Adam 
and  Christ  and  proceeds  to  contrast  them.     But  it  is 
difficult  to  see  exactly  in  what  respect  the  contrast 
obtains,  and  a  great  variety  of  opinions  has  been  held 
by  commentators  in  regard  to  this  question.     It  is  not 
possible  for  us,  however,  to  enter  here  upon  a  discus- 
sion of  these  opinions.     The  contrast  seems  evidently 
to  be  between  the   deadly  influence  which  proceeds 
upon  the  race  from  Adam,  and  the  saving  influence 
which   proceeds   upon   the   race   from  God   through 
Christ.    If  the  former  was  powerful  enough  to  produce 
universal  sin  and  death,  the  latter  is  even  more  pow- 
erful to  produce  universal  righteousness  and  immor- 
tality.   It  is  a  great  deal  more  difficult  to  cure  one  man 
or  a  thousand  than  it  is  to  make  one  or  a  thousand 
sick.    It  is  a  great  deal  more  difficult  to  restore  a  fallen 
man  or  a  fallen  race  than  it  is  to  cause  a  man  or  a  race 
to  fall.     Through  Adam  was  the  latter  done,  through 
Christ  the  former.     Hence,  grace  more  abounds. 

V.  16.  And  not  as  it  was.  Another  point  of 
contrast  is  here  mentioned.  The  judgment  of  con- 
demnation came  upon  the  whole  human  race  prima- 
rily because  of  one  transgression,  that— to  wit,  of 
Adam ;  but  the  free  gift  unto  justification  is  offered 
to  and  made  possible  to  the  whole  human  race  in  the 
face  of,  not  only  Adam's  one  trangression,  but  of  each 
rational  adult's  many  transgressions. 
12 


178         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


V.  17: — For  if  by  one  mart's  offence  death  reigned  by  one  ; 
fnuch  more  they  which  receive  abundance  of  grace  and  of  the 
gift  of  righteousness  shall  reign  in  life  by  one,  fesus  Christ.) 

V.  18: — Therefore,  as  by  the  offence  of  one  judgment  came 
upon  all  men  to  condemnation  ;  even  so  by  the  righteousness 
of  one  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto  justification  of 
life. 

V.  17.  ^or  iff  etc.  A  third  point  of  contrast  be- 
tween Adam  and  Christ,  and  of  the  superiority  of  the 
latter  over  the  former.  All  men  have  come  to  be 
reigned  over  by  Death  as  by  a  monarch  because, 
primarily,  of  the  one  man's  (Adam's)  offence ;  but  be- 
cause of  the  free  gift  offered  to  all  men  through  the 
one  man  Christ  all  men  may  cease  ultimately  to  be 
reigned  over  by  death  and  may  themselves  reign 
in  the  glorious  resurrection  of  the  body;  and  those 
who  receive  this  "  abundance  of  grace "  which  is 
offered  in  Christ  as  a  free  gift  to  all,  not  only  may 
thus  reign  but  actually  will  do  so. 

V.  18.  Therefore  as  by  the  offence,  etc.  The 
Apostle  in  this  verse  sums  up  the  points  of  compar- 
ison between  Adam  and  Christ,  verses  12-17,  and  at 
the  same  time  by  means  of  the  word  "  therefore " 
makes  this  verse  the  conclusion  of  the  argument  for 
the  universality  of  the  salvation  provided  in  Christ, 
as  begun  in  verse  12;  thus:  As  by  one  man  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  etc.,  even  so 
by  the  righteousness  of  one  the  free  gift,  etc.  This 
is  the  argument.  The  points  of  comparison  are :  (i) 
The  universality  of  the  evil  entailed  on  the  race 
through  Adam ;  the  universality  of  the  offer  of  salva- 
tion through  Christ ;  (2)  the  superiority  in  respect  to 
the  power  of  the  salvation,  or  free  gift,  over  the  sin  of 


Chapter  V.  179 


Adam ;  (3)  the  evil  through  Adam  came  primarily  of 
Adam's  one  sin,  the  salvation  is  offered  in  the  face 
not  only  of  Adam's  one,  but  of  each  individual's 
many  sins  (grace  more  abounds) ;  (4)  through  Adam 
Death  was  caused  to  reign  over  man,  through  Christ 
Death  is  conquered  and  man  is  caused  to  reign  (O 
grave  where  is  thy  victory).  No.  i  is  the  only  point 
of  resemblance,  Nos.  2,  3,  4  are  points  of  contrast. 

Free  gift.  The  words  "the  free  gift  came"  are 
supplied  from  the  sense  of  the  passage,  not  being 
contained  in  the  Greek  ;  they  are,  however,  in  verse 
16.  The  free  gift  of  salvation  is  said  to  have  come 
upon  all  men  because  it  is  offered  alike  to  all.  Christ 
is  God's  gift  not  to  this  or  that  man  or  nation  but  to 
the  whole  race ;  Adam's  gift  was  sin  and  death.  And 
while  any  individual  man  may  for  himself  accept  or 
reject  God's  gift,  there  is  a  sense  in  which  it  does 
nevertheless  accrue  to  the  benefit  of  the  whole  race 
and  of  every  man  whether  he  accepts  it  or  rejects  it. 
If  God  had  not  offered  the  gift  the  race  would  either 
have  ended  with  Adam,  or  it  would  have  continued 
hopelessly  in  sin  and  misery. 

The  justiRcation  of  life,  or  the  removal  of  God's 
condemnation  or  disapprobation  from  all  is  said  in 
this  verse  to  be  the  object  of  God's  free  gift  to  all; 
and  what  is  here  attributed  to  the  "righteousness" 
of  the  one — to  wit,  Christ,  is  in  verses  9,  10,  attrib- 
uted to  his  blood  or  death.  There  is  no  contradiction. 
The  word  "  righteousness "  of  Christ  stands  in  anti- 
thesis to,  and  is  naturally  suggested  by,  the  offence  or 
unrighteousness  of  Adam;  and  as  the  unrighteous- 
ness and  divine  condemnation  which  Adam  commu- 
nicated to  his  race  began  in  his  act  of  disobedience, 
so  did  the  righteousness  and  justification  which  Christ 


i8o  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 

V.  19  : — For  as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made 
sinnerSy  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made  right- 
eous. 

V.  20: — Moreover  the  law  entered,  that  the  offence  might 
abound.  But  where  sin  abou7ided,  grace  did  much  more 
abound. 

brings  to  the  race  consist  in  or  proceed  from  his 
obedience,  the  essential  culminating  point  of  which 
was  his  death.  This  is  the  idea  or  meaning  of  the 
Apostle  in  verse  19. 

V.  19.  By  one  man^s  disobedience.     See  the 

last  note  above. 

Many.  Literally,  "  the  many  " — that  is,  the  race. 
We  know  it  means  "  the  race  "  because  it  stands  in 
antithesis  to  "the  one,"  Adam.  Were  made  sin- 
ners. Were  set  down  as  sinners  in  God's  book,  so  to 
speak.  By  the  obedience  of  one.  Of  the  one — 
to  wit,  Christ.  See  the  last  note  on  verse  18.  Shall 
many,  Literall}^  "  the  many,"  the  whole  human  race, 
standing  in  antithesis  to  "  the  one,"  Christ.  Made 
righteous.  Set  down  as  righteous  in  God's  book. 
Paul  means  to  affirm  here  that  the  provision  offered 
through  Christ  is  co-extensive  with  the  evil  wrought 
through  Adam.  As  by  Adam's  disobedience  all  men 
are  brought  into  a  state  of  condemnation,  so  by 
Christ's  obedience  all  men  shall  have  through  all  time 
the  means  of  securing  the  everlasting  removal  of  that 
condemnation. 

V.  20.  Moreover  the  law  entered,  etc.  "  As 
the  sin  of  Adam  and  the  grace  of  Christ  have  been 
presented  as  the  main  elements  and  moving  powers 
in  man's  history,  the  question  naturally  occurs — ^what 


Chapter  V.  i8i 


V.  21 : — That  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might 
grace  reign  through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord. 

was  the  purpose  of  the  law?"  (Gifford.)  This,  in 
the  estimation  of  the  Jew  especially,  whose  religious 
system  placed  such  a  large  emphasis  on  the  law,  was 
by  no  means  an  unimportant  question.  Paul  answers 
it  here  very  briefly,  reserving  it  for  fuller  discussion 
further  on.  His  meaning  in  this  verse  is :  The  law 
came  in  along  side  of  the  economy  of  sin  in  order  to 
awaken  in  man  the  consciousness  of  sin  and  thereby 
sharpen  his  longing  for  redemption.  This  is  the 
function  of  the  law  whether  in  its  relation  to  the 
Jewish  people,  the  race  as  a  whole,  or  to  any  indi- 
vidual ;  for  while  the  Jewish  reader  would  naturally 
and  correctly  understand  Paul  as  referring  here  to 
the  Mosaic  law,  the  spirit  of  his  teaching  applies  to 
God's  revealed  law  as  such,  whether  in  the  Mosaic 
form,  or  in  some  other  form.  To  the  Christian  be- 
liever the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  as  truly  "  the  law  " 
as  the  Mosaic  statutes. 

V.  21.  That  as  sin  hath  reigned,  etc.  In  order 
that,  etc.  The  law  entered,  as  already  explained,  not 
in  order  that  sins  might  thereby  be  multiplied,  but  in 
order  that  man  might  have  a  more  vivid  conscious- 
ness of  his  sinfulness,  in  order  that  thus  the  reign  of 
sin  might  be  displaced  by  the  reign  of  grace.  One, 
in  other  words,  must  know  himself  as  the  slave  of  a 
hard  master  before  he  will  long  for  a  better  one.  He 
must  know  himself  as  sick  before  he  will  take  medi- 
cine. 


i82  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


IV. 

THE  DOCTRINE  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  SANCTIFI- 
CATION. 

(Objections  considered.) 
First  Objection. 
The  first  objection  which  Paul  represents  as  being 
brought  against  his  doctrine  of  justification  by  grace 
through  faith  is,  that  it  is  promotive  of  bad  morals, 
wrong  conduct,  or  unholiness  of  life.  This  he  pro- 
ceeds to  answer. 

Chap.  VI.,  V.  I :—  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Shall  we  continue 
in  sin,  that  grace  may  abound? 

V.  I.  What  shall  we  say?  Paul  represents  him- 
self as  putting  into  words  an  objection  which  the 
Jews  might  have  to  his  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith.  What  shall  we  say,  in  view  of  your  doctrine 
of  justification,  and  of  the  certainty  of  final  salvation 
which  it  guarantees?  What  shall  we  say,  especially 
in  view  of  your  last  words,  that  "  where  sin  abounded, 
grace  did  much  more  abound?"  If  God  can  thus 
glorify  himself  through  our  sins,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  make  certain  our  final  salvation,  should  we  not 
rather  continue  in  sin  that  his  grace  may  abound? 

V.  2 : — God  forbid.  How  shall  we,  that  are  dead  to  sin, 
live  any  longer  therein  ? 

V.  2-14. — (The  answer.)— God  forbid.  Literally, 
"Let  it  not  be"— a  strong  way  of  saying,  "By  no 


Chapter  VI.  183 


V.  3 : — Know  ye  not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized 
into  Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into  his  death  ? 

means."  To  suppose  that  my  doctrine  warrants  any- 
such  conclusion  is  absurd.  Is  it  possible  for  one  who 
has  died  to  live  in  those  things  in  respect  to  which  he 
died?  Are  dead  to  sin.  Died  to  sin.  Shall  we,  who 
died  to  sin  at  the  time  we  were  reconciled  to  God  and 
justified,  live  any  longer  in  sin  ?  In  this  case  the  words 
reconciliation  and  justification  would  have  no  mean- 
ing, for  to  say  "reconciled"  and  "justified"  is  only 
another  way  of  saying  "  to  die  to  sin."  To  continue 
in  sin  is  to  contradict  the  fact  of  having  died  to  sin. 
This  is  the  first  stone  in  the  foundation  of  Paul's  doc- 
trine of  holy  living.  The  justified  one  can  no  more 
give  his  mental  assent  to  any  inward  or  outward  act 
of  sin. 

V.  3.  Know  ye  not, — The  argument  in  this  and 
the  next  two  verses  is  simple,  and  may  be  briefly 
stated  thus:  Or,  if  you  do  not  understand  what  I 
have  just  said — to  wit,  that  there  has  been  in  the  case 
of  you  who  are  justified  a  death  to  sin — know  ye  not 
then  what  was  signified  by  the  baptism  which  ye 
received?  If  3^ou  understand  that  rite,  you  would 
know  that  it  implies  a  death  and  also  a  second  birth, 
a  death  to  sin  on  the  one  hand,  a  birth  on  the  other 
hand  to  holiness,  or  newness  of  life,  which  removes 
every  possibility  of  a  return  to  the  old  life  of  willful 
and  loved  sin. 

So  many  of  us  as  were.  This  expression,  as 
here  translated,  and  also  as  rendered  in  the  Revised 
Version,  would  seem  to  implv  that  there  might  be 
some  Christians  who  had  not  been  baptized.     Paul 


1 84         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  4: — Therefore  we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into 
death :  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the 
glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness 
of  life. 

never  seems  to  have  laid  much  stress  on  baptism  as 
an  essential  rite,  (i  Cor.  i.  14.)  And  in  the  verse 
before  us  baptism  is  not  itself  the  death  to  sin,  but  is 
mentioned  by  the  Apostle  as  only  its  outward  proof  or 
symbol,  just  as  being  buried  physically  is  the  usual 
outward  proof  that  one  is  dead  physically. 

Baptized  into  Jesus  Christ.  To  be  "baptized  " 
into  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  brought  into  fellowship  and 
communion,  or  oneness  of  spirit  with  him ;  and  it  is 
here  by  figure  of  speech  called  a  "  baptism,"  because 
by  this  outward  rite  it  was  symbolized.  Had  Paul 
been  speaking  in  the  language  of  the  Old  Testament 
he  would  have  used  the  word  "circumcised"  instead 
of  "baptized,"  and  in  the  same  spiritual  import. 

Were  baptized  into  his  death.  That  is,  as 
Christ's  death  was  the  termination  of  and  the  com- 
plete deliverance  from  the  life  with  its  various  condi- 
tions which  our  sins  imposed  upon  him,  so  is  our  death 
to  sin,  as  explained  above,  the  termination  and  com- 
plete deliverance  from  our  life  of  voluntary  sin. 

It  may  be  observed  that  the  name  "  Jesus  Christ," 
in  this  verse,  is,  in  the  best  ancient  manuscripts  and 
in  the  Revised  Version,  "  Christ  Jesus."  Christ  is  the 
official  or  mediatorial  name ;  Jesus  is  his  name  as  a 
person.  In  the  one  form  of  writing  the  two  the  offi- 
cial character  is  emphasized  ;  in  the  other,  the  person. 

V.  4.  Therefore  we  are.  Rather,  "we  have 
been,"  or  "we  were."  The  tense  is  past;  and 
whereas  we  were  buried,  we  are  now  risen.    Buried 


Chapter  VI.  185 


with  him.  Had  cremation  been  the  usual  popular 
mode  of  disposing  of  dead  bodies  in  Paul's  day,  he 
might,  without  interfering  in  the  least  with  the  force 
of  his  argument,  have  said  "  cremated  "  instead  of 
"  buried,"  the  material  in  the  one  case  being  fire  and 
in  the  other  water.  The  argument  does  not  depend 
for  its  validity  upon  any  one  mode  of  baptism.  All 
that  he  means  to  say  is  that  as  Christ  died,  etc.,  so 
have  we  died,  etc.,  and  as  Christ's  burial  was  a  proof 
of  his  death,  so  is  our  baptism  a  symbolical  proof  of 
our  death ;  and  furthermore,  as  Christ's  death  to  all 
the  conditions  of  his  former  life,  imposed  upon  him 
by  our  sins,  was  followed  by  his  resurrection  to  a  life 
of  perfect  freedom  from  all  those  conditions,  so  is  our 
death  to  sin  followed  by  a  new  life  of  holiness  or 
right  living  on  our  part. 

By  the  glory  of  the  Father.  The  resurrection 
of  the  Son  of  God  was  not  the  work  of  one  single 
attribute  of  the  Father,  as,  for  instance  of  his  power  ; 
it  was  a  glorification  also  of  his  mercj^  to  mankind, 
his  righteousness,  holiness,  etc.  In  short,  had  the 
Son  not  been  raised  the  Father  would  so  far  have 
failed  to  exhibit  not  only  his  power  but  also  those 
other  attributes.  In  this  sense  the  resurrection  was 
no  less  a  moral  necessity  than  the  death. 

Should  walk.  Having  reference  to  our  cojitinu- 
ous  moral  conduct.  In  newness  of  life.  Something 
more  is  meant  than  a  mere  difference  of  our  conduct 
now  as  compared  with  what  it  was  before  we  died  to 
sin.  We  do  not  merely  live  differently.  The  very 
principle  of  life  itself  in  us  is  something  altogether 
and  absolutely  different  from  what  it  once  was.  Our 
daily  stream  of  thoughts,  words,  deeds,  feelings,  flows 
from  another  fountain.    These,  making  up  that  which 


1 86         Ths  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  5 : — For  if.  we  have  been  planted  together  in  the  likeness 
of  his  death,  we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  his  resurrec- 
tion: 

we  call  life  as  lived  day  by  day,  are  only  the  out- 
flow of  that  invisible  life,  which,  so  to  speak,  is  hid 
with  Christ  in  God.  This  is  the  "  newness  of  life," 
as  contrasted  with  the  life  from  which  our  thoughts, 
deeds,  etc.,  used  to  flow. 

V.  5.  V^or  if  we  have  been  planted,  etc.    For 

if  we  have  become  united  with  him.  In  the  like- 
ness of  his  death.  As  there  was  a  dying  on  the 
part  of  Christ,  so  must  there  have  been  a  dying  on 
the  part  of  the  Christian — the  one  for  sin,  the  other 
to  sin.  They  go  down,  as  it  were,  into  the  grave 
together,  the  believing  sinner  thus  identifying  him- 
self with  Christ.  Thus  are  we  planted  or  united  with 
him  in  the  likeness  of  his  death.  In  the  likeness 
of  his  resurrection.  This  does  not  refer,  of  course, 
to  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day.  But  as  he  rose 
from  the  grave,  so  shall  we,  by  identifying  ourselves 
with  him  in  his  death,  arise  with  him  to  the  newness 
of  life,  which  we  derive  from  him.  But  we  should 
notice  that  we  can  not  become  united  with  Christ  in 
his  life,  we  can  not  become  partakers  of  his  life,  unless 
we  have  previously  become  identified  with  him  in  his 
death.  The  Christ  who  died  is  the  necessary  prelude 
of  the  Christ  who  is  risen.  This  is  true  of  every 
human  being,  though  in  the  case  of  the  infant,  the 
irrational  adult,  and  perhaps  of  some  heathen,  there 
is  of  course  no  conscious  union  with  Christ  in  his  death. 

V.  6.  Knowing  this.  That  is,  we  not  only  know 
it  as  a  fact,  but  we  know  it  as  one  which  we  can  not 


Chapter  VL  187 


V.  6 : — Knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with 
him,  that  the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed,  that  henceforth 
we  should  not  serve  sin. 

V.  7  : — For  he  that  is  dead  is  freed  from  sin. 

doubt,  because  of  the  evidence  of  our  own  experi- 
ence. Of  the  two  Greek  words  meaning  "knowing," 
the  one  here  used  is  gnoskontes ;  the  other  one  (eidotes) 
occurs  in  verse  9. 

Our  old  man.  Ourselves  as  we  were  before  we 
died  to  sin.  (Col.  iii.  10;  2  Cor.  v.  17;  Eph.  iv.  22-24.) 
Was  cmci£ed  with  him.  With  Christ.  Cruci- 
fixion was  the  manner  of  Christ's  death,  and  hence, 
when  our  old  or  unrenewed  selves  died  to  sin  they  are 
said  to  have  been  crucified.  Being  "crucified  with 
him"  is  not  essentially  a  different  idea  from  being 
"planted  in  the  likeness  of  his  death,"  but  the  same 
under  a  different  figure.  And  it  touches  the  same 
doctrine — to  wit,  that  if  we  would  share  the  new  life 
of  the  risen  Christ  we  must  first  be  crucified  with 
him;  we  must,  as  it  were,  see  ourselves  crucified  in 
him.  Or,  if  we  refuse  and  leave  Christ  to  share  his 
cross  alone,  he  must  also  share  alone  his  risen  life. 

The  body  of  sin.  The  "  old  man  "  is,  so  to  speak, 
sin's  body;  through  this  body,  or  old  man,  or  unre- 
newed nature,  sin  tj^annizes  over  us,  exacting  from 
us  hard  ser\ace.  The  old  man  being  crucified,  sin's 
body  is  destro3^ed  and  he  can  no  longer  exact  service 
of  us.  The  "new  man"  which  we  become  on  rising 
with  Christ  is  not  sin's  body,  although, sin  may  make 
fierce  assaults  upon  it ;  it  is  Christ's  or  the  Holy  Spir- 
it's body. 

V.  7.   He  that  is  dead  is  freed  from  sin.    The 

one  dying  with  Christ  is  by  the  very  act  of  dying  freed 


i88  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  8 : — Now  if  we  be  dead  with  Christ,  we  believe  that  we 
shall  also  live  with  him : 

V.  9 : — Knowing  that  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead 
dieth  no  m,ore  ;  death  hath  no  m^ore  dofuinion  over  him. 

V.  lo : — For  in  that  he  died,  he  died  unto  sin  once :  but  in 
that  he  liveth,  he  liveth  unto  God. 

from  sin,  his  master;  for  when  he  rises  again  with 
Christ  he  is  a  "new  man,"  a  "new  creature,"  into 
whom  sin  no  longer  has  access.  He  died  a  slave,  he 
arose  a  freeman;  he  died  as  sin's  body,  he  arose  as  a 
grafted  member  of  Christ's  body,  from  which  hence- 
forth he  draws  his  vitality. 

V.  8.  If  we  be  dead.  Rather,  if  we  died.  We 
shall  also  live.  Not  at  the  final  resurrection,  but 
during  this  present  life.  If  we  participate  in  Christ's 
death,  we  shall  also  rise  with  him  and  share  with  him 
his  resurrection  life. 

V.  9.  Knowing  that,  etc.  {eidotes).  Our  faith 
that  we  shall  share  Christ's  life  rests  on  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  fact  that  he  rose  from  the  dead  and  is 
alive  for  evermore.  Other  men,  as  I^azarus,  were 
raised  from  the  dead,  and  after  that  were  mortal  as 
they  were  before;  they  died  again.  Not  so  with 
Christ ;  death  has  dominion  no  more  over  him. 

V.  10.  I>ied  unto  sin  once,  Christ  not  only  died 
/or  sin,  but,  as  Paul  here  states,  the  death  which  he 
died  was  also  a  death  to  sin,  to  all  the  sufferings  and 
other  conditions  which  sin  (our  sins)  imposed  upon 
him.  And  this  death  will  be  no  more  repeated  by 
him.  The  relation  in  which  he  stood  to  sin  up  to  the 
very  moment  of  his  death  at  that  moment  was  severed 


Chapter  VI.  189 


V.  1 1 : — Likewise  reckon  ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed 
unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

V.  12  : — Let  not  sin  therefore  reign  in  your  mortal  body,  that 
ye  should  obey  it  in  the  lusts  thereof. 

V.  13 : — Neither  yield  ye  your  members  as  instruments  of 
unrighteousness  unto  sin :  but  yield  yourselves  unto  God,  as 
those  that  are  alive  from  the  dead,  and  your  members  as 
instruments  of  righteousness  unto  God. 

forever.     The  life  consequent  upon  his  resurrection 
was  to  be  a  forever  unbroken  life  unto  God. 

He  liveth  unto  God.  The  expressions  "unto 
sin  "  and  "  unto  God  "  help  to  explain  each  other.  As 
"unto  sin"  means  in  relation  to  or  in  respect  to  sin, 
so  "  unto  God  "  means  in  relation  to  or  in  respect  to 
God.  In  djdng  he  fulfilled,  once  for  all,  his  personal 
and  official  relation  to  sin.  In  living,  he  lives  in  rela- 
tion only  to  God,  his  personal  life  being  wholly  unfet- 
tered by  our  sins,  and  his  official  life  being  devoted  to 
the  work  of  bringing  those  for  whom  he  died  into  the 
same  life,  and  preserving  them  in  the  same  life  with 
himself. 

V.  II.  I/ikewise,  etc.  In  this  verse  the  thought 
of  verse  10,  in  its  application  to  believers,  is  brought 
out.  In  the  same  manner  as  Christ  died  unto  sin  once, 
and  forever  thereafter  liveth  unto  God,  so  the  believer 
must  regard  himself  as  having  died  once  for  all  unto 
sin,  and  as  living  forever  thereafter  as  a  participant 
of  Christ's  life  unto  God.  If  he  so  reckons  or  re- 
gards himself,  he  can  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that 
he  should  sin  "  in  order  that  grace  may  abound." 

Vs.  12,  13.  I^et  not  sin  there  fore,  etc.  In  view 
of  the  facts  stated  in  the  preceding  verses.    Sin  is  said 


190  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  14: — For  sifi  shall  not  have  dominion  over  you:  for  ye 
are  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace. 

to  reign  in  us  when  we  voluntarily  live  in  sin — in  the 
indulgence  or  practice  of  evil  thoughts,  feelings,  hab- 
its, etc.  It  is  said  to  reign  in  our  "  mortal  bod}- "  when 
we  3'ield  our  bodies  to  be  sin's  servant  and  instrument. 
The  body  of  the  believer  is  here  called  mortal  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  a  remnant  of  sin  is  still  left  in  it, 
against  which  the  spirit  must  strive ;  and  also  because 
the  body  which  he  shall;  have  will  not  be  mortal,  but 
immortal,  itself  having  become  a  participant  in  the 
redemption  wrought  by  Christ.  (See  viii.  11-23.) 
The  lusts  thereof.  Any  evil  desires,  appetites,  or 
passions,  which  attack  us  through  the  medium  of  our 
bodies,  or  which  we  could  not  experience  if  we  had 
no  bodies.  As  those  that  are  alive  from  the 
dead.  As  those  that  died  once  for  all  to  sin  and  rose 
again  to  newness  of  life. 

V.  14.  For  sin  shall  not  have,  etc.  This  is  a 
sure  and  encouraging  promise,  justifying  the  exhor- 
tation in  verse  12.  The  reason  assigned  for  the  cer- 
tainty that  sin  will  no  longer  have  dominion  over  the 
believer  is  that  he  is  not  now  under  law  but  under 
grace.  By  not  being  under  law  is  meant  that  he  does 
not  now  live  in  respect  to  the  law,  with  the  view  to  work- 
ing out  his  salvation  thereby.  He  is  now  under  grace, 
and  this  grace  communicates  to  him  a  power  whereby 
he  is  enabled  to  resist  the  efforts  of  sin  to  domineer  over 
him,  whereby,  indeed,  he  is  enabled  to  conquer  sin. 
Law,  under  which  he  was  before  he  came  under  grace, 
communicated  to  him  no  such  power,  and  hence  the 
tyrant  sin  had  over  him  a  scarcely  contested  reign. 
Law  takes  but  little  interest  in  the  welfare  of  a  strug- 


Chapter  VI.  19^ 


gling  soul;  divine  grace  takes  much.  The  language 
of  Paul  in  this  verse  is  easily  seen,  therefore,  not  to 
mean  that  the  believer  is  no  longer  under  obligation 
to  obey  the  law  in  the  sense  of  right  living,  the  object 
of  this  whole  section  of  the  Epistle  being  to  show 
not  only  that  he  should,  but  that  by  the  grace  of  God 
he  will  live  aright. 

Second  Objection. 
After  all,  however,  the  statement  that  we  are  not 
under  law  was  liable  to  be  misapprehended  by  some 
of  those  to  whom  Paul  was  writing.     We  may  assume 
that  he  again  represents  himself  as  speaking  in  the 
person  of  one  whose  objection  to  his  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  grace  is  based  on  his  misapprehension  of 
its  practical  outcome  in  his  life,  thus :   I  do  not  yet 
see  that  your  doctrine  of  justification  makes  any  pro- 
vision for  right  living.     It  rather  seems  to  me  to  take 
away  all   safeguards   against   wrong   living,   for  you 
have  just  said  that  we  are  not  under  law,  but  under 
grace,  and  hence  we  may  act  with  impunity  without 
any  restrictions  whatsoever  on  our  conduct.     What 
Paul  therefore  assigned  as  the  reason  why  we  would 
not  sin,  the  objector  strangely  construes  into  reason 
why  we  may.     In  answering  the  objection,  and  in  fur- 
ther illustrating  the  outworking  of  the  principle  of 
the  new  life  which  is  in  us,  Paul  shows  that  the  very 
fact  that  we  have  been  justified  implies  a  transference 
of  our  allegiance  as  servants  from  sin  to  righteousness, 
and  that  although  we  are  no  longer  under  law  in  the  old 
sense,  this  very  transference  is  itself  of  the  nature  of 
a  legal  preventive  of  any  further  service  of  sin.     And 
to  make  still  more  impressive  the  sense  of  obligation 
on  the  part  of  the  justified  one  to  serve  his  new  mas- 


192         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  15: — What  then?  shall  we  sin^  because  we  are  not  under 
the  law^  but  under  grace  ?     God  forbid. 

ter,  and  of  the  personal  interest  involved  in  this  serv- 
ice, the  Apostle  reminds  the  objector  that  the  wages 
received  in  the  one  case  is  death,  whereas  in  the  other 
it  is  life  eternal. 

V.  15.  What  then?  Shall  we  si7if  etc.  That  is, 
does  not  this  statement  of  yours  that  we  are  not  under 
law  remove  all  legal  restraints  from  our  conduct,  and 
will  this  inner  principle  of  holiness  or  newness  of  life 
be,  in  the  absence  of  law,  a  suflScient  protection 
against  wrong  living  and  a  sufficient  inducement  and 
help  to  right  living?  It  seems  to  me,  says  the  objector, 
that  it  will  not,  but  that  on  the  other  hand  the  very 
fact  that  it  is  not  law  but  grace  to  which  we  are  now 
amenable  will,  of  itself,  be  a  sort  of  inducement  to 
venture,  as  it  were,  upon  the  leniency  of  God,  and 
make  it  the  ground  or  occasion  of  many  an  act  of  sin. 
The  grace  is  so  easy  that  it  will  engender  abuse  of 
itself  and  carelessness. 

God  forbid.  By  no  means,  says  Paul  in  indig- 
nant rejection  of  such  a  suggestion.  And  then  he 
proceeds  in  the  following  verses,  not  to  repeat  what 
he  said  in  the  preceding  verses  on  the  inner  principle 
of  right  living,  but  to  introduce  a  new  argument,  to 
wit:  We  are  bound  by  a  law  of  service  to  another 
master,  and  we  can  not  stand  in  this  relation  to  but 
one  at  a  time.  We  can  not  serve  two  masters;  for 
one  who  serves  is  a  servant,  and  a  servant  {doiilos, 
bond-servant)  of  a  person  is  one  who  belongs  wholly 
to  that  person.  Hence,  in  the  case  of  the  justified 
one,  in  addition  to  the  moral  impossibility  of  serving 
sin,  there  is  another  principle  which  prevents  it. 


Chapter  VI.  193 


V.  16: — Know  ye  not,  that  to  whom  ye  yield  yourselves 
servants  to  obey,  his  servants  ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey;  whether 
of  sin  unto  death,  or  of  obedience  unto  righteousness  ? 

V.  17  :  Btit  God  be  thanked,  that  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin, 
but  ye  have  obeyed  from  the  heart  that  form  of  doctrine 
which  was  delivered  you. 

V.  16.  Know  ye  not,  etc.  An  appeal  to  a  law 
or  principle  which  Paul  regarded  so  plain  as  to  cause 
him  to  think  it  generally  known,  and  of  which  those 
to  whom  he  wrote  should  need  only  to  be  reminded 
This  principle  is :  We  are  the  bond-servants  of  him  to 
whom  we  present  ourselves  as  such  by  acts  of  obe- 
dience to  him,  and  we  come  thus  as  it  were  to  owe 
him  obedience ;  we  are  bound  to  him  as  one  becomes 
bound  to  a  habit  often  indulged.  This  one  to  whom 
we  thus  become  bound  is  either  sin  or  obedience,  by 
which  latter  is  meant "  the  obedience  of  faith  " — that  is, 
the  gospel  (see  ch.  i.  5  ;  xvi.  26 ;  2  Cor.  x.  5).  If  it  be 
Sin,  the  wages  or  outcome  is  death  eternal ;  if  it  be 
obedience  or  the  gospel,  the  outcome  is  righteousness 
and  life  eternal.  In  other  words,  in  the  one  case  there 
is  a  constant  increase  of  moral  corruption  which  cul- 
minates in  eternal  death,  in  the  other  a  constant  growth 
in  righteousness  or  grace  which  culminates  in  eternal 
life.     See  verse  23. 

V.  17.  But  God  be  thanked.  The  apostle 
thanks  God  that  whereas  those  to  whom  he  wrote  had 
once  been  the  bond-servants  of  sin,  they  had  become 
the  bond-servants  of  the  gospel ;  the  old  allegiance 
had  been  broken  by  a  power  stronger  than  sin,  and 
the  new  allegiance  to  the  new  Master  had  taken  its 
place  and  had  been  persevered  in.  There  was  no 
occasion  for  Paul  to  say  to  the  Roman  Christians  that 
13 


194  "I^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  i8 :  Being  then  tnade  free  front  sin,  ye  became  the  serv- 
ants of  righteousness. 

V.  19 :  /  speak  after  the  manner  of  m,en  because  of  the 
infirmity  of  your  flesh:  for  as  ye  have  yielded  your  members 
servants  to  uncleanness  and  to  iniquity  unto  iniquity ;  even  so 
now  yield  your  members  servants  to  righteousness  unto  holi- 
ness. 

some  of  them  had  so  far  abused  his  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication as  to  actually  commit  sins  because  they  were 
no  longer  under  law  but  under  grace.  Their  obedience 
had  been  cordial.  That  form  of  doctrine.  That 
mold  of  doctrine.  They  had  shaped  or  molded 
their  characters  and  lives  according  to  the  mold  into 
which  they  had  been  originally  cast  by  their  first 
apostolic  teacher,  whoever  he  may  have  been.  It  is 
probable  that  Paul  himself  had  been  the  instructor  of 
many  of  them  at  Ephesus,  or  Corinth,  or  other  places, 
from  which  they  had  since  moved  to  Rome. 

V.  18.  Being  then  made  free.  Or,  and  being 
made  free.  The  illustration  is  the  same  expressed  in 
other  words,  as  in  the  preceding  verse.  The  idea  is, 
not  that  they  were  made  sinless,  but  that  they  as 
slaves  of  sin  were  emancipated  or  freed  from  their 
former  master ;  and  being  in  this  state  of  freedom,  it 
was  absurd  to  suppose  that  they  could  return  to  their 
former  state  of  slavery.  No  Roman  slave  who  had 
been  liberated  would  ever  think  of  such  a  thing. 
The  word  which  Paul  here  uses  to  designate  the  liber- 
ation of  believers  from  sin,  their  master,  was  the  one 
that  was  technically  employed  by  the  Romans  to  de- 
note the  emancipation  of  a  slave. 

V.  19.  I  speak  after  the  manner  of  men.  I 
draw  an  illustration  from  the  common  affairs  of  life, 


Chapter  VI.  195 


in  order  that  you  may  clearly  understand  me.  The 
inability  to  clearly  see  into  this  subject  was,  however, 
a  moral  rather  than  an  intellectual  one;  for  moral 
truths  are  addressed  to  our  moral  natures  no  less  than 
to  our  intellectual.  In  other  words,  one  way  to  know 
God  is  to  love  God;  "  if  any  man  will  know  of  the 
doctrine,"  let  him  obey  it.  Paul  had  called  the  habit- 
ual doing  of  acts  of  uncleanness  and  iniquity  the 
service  of  sin,  the  outcome  of  which  was  an  aggra- 
vation of  the  hard  slavery ;  he  calls  the  opposite  life 
the  service  of  righteousness,  the  outcome  of  which 
was  increase  in  personal  holiness.  He  calls  this  a 
service  or  slavery  by  way  of  accommodating  himself 
to  many  of  his  readers  who  may  not  have  been  able 
to  view  it  from  the  stand-point  of  a  matured  personal 
experience.  He  does  not  mean  that  it  was  an  irksome 
and  hard  bond-service  to  those  who  heartily  engaged 
in  it.  It  was  rather  a  service  which  love  converted 
into  a  glorious  liberty. 

Iniquity  unto  iniquity,  Leading  to  yet  greater 
iniquity.  The  word  rendered  "iniquity"  means  law- 
lessness, living  in  a  manner  regardless  of  God's  law ; 
the  more  one  so  lives,  the  more  disposed  is  he  to  so 
live.  The  uncleanness  referred  to  is  a  corrupt  and 
degraded  nature  and  life. 

Yield  your  members.  The  word  "  yield"  is  in 
ch.  xii.  I  translated  "present,"  and  this  is  the  better 
word.  The  word  "  yield  "  implies  a  degree  of  reluct- 
ance, whereas  the  believer  is  not  called  on  to  render  a 
reluctant  service. 

Vs.  20-23.  ^^^  apostle  here  points  out  the  fruits  or 
consequences  of  the  service  of  sin  and  righteous- 
ness respectively.     He  had  stated  in  verse  19  that  the 


196  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  20 : — For  when  ye  were  the  servants  of  sin,  ye  were  free 
from  righteousness. 

V.  21 : —  What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof  ye 
are  now  ashamed?  for  the  end  of  those  things  is  death. 

V.  22 : — But  now  being  made  free  from  sin,  and  become 
servants  to  God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holiness,  and  the 
end  everlasting  life. 

V.  23 : — For  the  wages  of  sin  is  death  ;  but  the  gift  of  God 
is  eternal  life  through  fesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

service  of  uncleanness  and  iniquity  was  unto,  or  led 
to,  yet  greater  iniquity,  and  now  he  adds  by  way  of 
confirming  his  words  that  they  were  while  engaged  in 
that  service  free  from  righteousness ;  they  were  not 
troubled  or  hampered  by  any  sense  or  feeling  of  want 
of  righteousness  on  their  part.  There  was  a  time 
when  they  did  not  stop  to  recognize  that  righteous- 
ness had  any  claim  on  them  whatever ;  they  sinned 
with  a  high  hand ;  they  drank  iniquity  as  water. 

V.  21.  What  fruit  had  ye,  etc.  He  now  appeals 
to  the  memory  of  their  experience.  Had  ye.  Not 
merely,  what  did  you  produce  as  the  result  of  your 
service,  but  what  did  you  possess  as  your  part  ?  The 
slaves  of  a  hard  master  may  produce  much  good  fruit 
for  the  master  and  none  for  themselves.  But  the 
Apostle  leaves  the  question  unanswered.  The  silent 
memory  of  a  blasted  life,  a  field  of  death ;  a  life  of 
which  they  could  only  be  bitterly  ashamed  was  the 
sufficient  sad  answer.  The  tendency  or  end  of  such 
a  life  is  death,  or  eternal  separation  from  God. 

V*.  22.  But  now  being  made  free,  etc.  To  be 
free  from  righteousness  is  to  be  the  slave  of  sin;  to 
be  liberated  from  this  slavery  is  to  become  the  serv- 


Chapter  VI.  197 


ants  of  God  or  righteousness,  the  tendency  or  end 
of  which  is  higher  attainments  in  holiness  and  eternal 
life. 

V.  23.  The  wages.  The  Apostle  here  presents 
the  same  idea  under  another  figure.  Instead  of 
** fruit"  and  "end,"  he  employs  a  word  which  was 
used  to  denote  the  food  and  pay  which  a  soldier  re- 
ceived from  the  general  under  whose  banner  he 
served.  The  commander,  Sin,  pays  in  a  food  and  coin 
the  name  of  which  is  deaf  A — eternal  death.  He  is 
represented  as  receiving  this  not  from  God,  but  from 
sin.  Viewed  in  other  aspects  it  might  be  regarded  as 
the  outworking  of  a  law  which  God  himself  has 
established.  The  servant  of  sin  must  look  to  sin  for 
his  pay. 

The  gift  of  God.  He  does  not  say  the  wages. 
While  the  believer  has  all  along  in  these  verses  been 
called  the  servant  of  God  or  of  righteousness,  in  con- 
trast to  the  servant  of  sin,  yet  he  is  not  such  a  servant 
as  receives  wages  from  God ;  he  receives  free  gifts. 
The  man  who  gets  eternal  death,  or  hell,  always 
merits  or  earns  it;  he  who  gets  eternal  life,  or 
heaven,  does  not  earn  it.  Through  Jesiis  Christ 
our  Lord,  In  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  He  who 
has  and  lives  the  newness  of  life  of  which  Paul  has 
been  speaking,  has  it  and  lives  it  only  as  he  is  171 
Christ  Jesus.  Apart  from  Christ  he  has  and  can  have 
no  life  in  him. 

The  True  Function  of  the  Law. 

(Chap.  VII.) 

This  chapter  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  difficult 
of  interpretation  in  the  whole   Bible.     The  precise 


198  The  Kpistle  to  the  Romans. 

application  of  it  has  been  the  subject  of  dispute  since 
the  earliest  ages  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  a  great 
variet}^  of  opinions  has  been  held,  by  pious  and  learned 
men,  both  in  regard  to  the  chapter  as  a  whole  and  also 
as  to  its  details.  It  therefore  becomes  us  here  also  to 
express  our  views  without  dogmatism.  It  is  probable 
that  every  reader  may  easily  find  more  than  one  state- 
ment in  the  chapter  to  the  truth  of  which  he  can 
readily  testify  in  the  light  of  his  own  spiritual  expe- 
rience. 

We  should  bear  in  mind,  however,  if  we  would 
study  the  chapter  aright,  that  it  is  not  to  be  regarded 
as  an  isolated  scrap  which  the  Apostle  has  thrown 
into  his  letter,  but  that  it  is  an  essential  part 
of  an  epistolary  doctrinal  treatise.  And  in  order  that 
we  may  more  clearly  see  what  part  of  the  treatise 
this  chapter  is,  let  us  briefly  review  the  steps  by 
which  the  Apostle  has  arrived  at  the  present  point  in 
his  discussion  : 

1.  The  statement  of  his  fundamental  theme,  to  wit: 
The  gospel  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  all 
men — in  which  the  term  "  salvation  "  denotes  not 
only  justification  but  also  sanctification,  or  the  new- 
ness of  life  which  becomes  the  permanent  possession 
and  characteristic  of  the  believer. 

2.  The  universal  need  on  the  part  of  mankind  of 
this  salvation. 

3.  Justification  is  to  be  secured,  not  by  "  works  of 
the  law,"  but  only  by  grace  through  faith. 

4.  The  permanent  validity  of  this  justification,  and 
hence  the  certainty  of  the  believer's  final  salvation. 

5.  This  justification  and  all  that  it  implies  is  pos- 
sible to  all  men ;  the  provided  remedy  is  co-extensive 
with  the  evil. 


Chapter  VII.  199 


6.  Paul  next  shows  that  this  justification  by  grace 
through  faith,  rather  than  by  legalistic  works,  instead 
of  laying  down  a  gap  for  unholy  living,  is  on  the  con- 
trary a  guaranty  of  permanent  right  or  holy  living 
— sactification  (not  sinlessness).  This  part  of  the 
discussion  began  with  chapter  vi.  and  continues 
through  chapter  vii.  and  viii.  In  chapter  vi.  14,  the 
Apostle,  in  the  course  of  his  argument,  stated  that 
believers,  or  justified  persons,  are  ''not  under  law," 
and  then  he  pauses  in  order  to  meet  and  sweep  away 
the  anticipated  objection  that  such  persons  might  pre- 
sume upon  this  freedom  and  this  grace,  so  far  as 
to  actually  commit  sin.  This  ends  the  chapter,  which 
of  course  Paul  did  not  divide  here.  With  chapter  vii. 
he  resumes  the  thread  of  his  thought  as  interrupted 

at  vi.  14. 

The  chapter  seems  to  be  naturally  divided  into 
three  parts,  as  follows : 

1.  Verses  1-6.— The  Apostle  continues  the  line  of 
thought  interrupted  at  vi.  14.  These  verses  then  may 
be  regarded  as  a  fragment  of  the  section  vi.  1-13, 
devoted  to  the  "  first  objection."     (See  page  182.) 

2.  Verses  7-13. — In  which  the  Apostle  sets  forth 
the  true  and  proper  relation  of  the  law  chiefly  in  rela- 
tion to  the  unregenerate  man,  of  whom  he  speaks  of 
himself  as  the  representative.  Here  the  function  of 
the  law  is  to  produce  "conviction." 

3.  Verses  14-25. — In  which  the  Apostle  sets  forth 
the  relation  of  the  law  chiefly  to  the  regenerate  man, 
of  whom  he  again  speaks  of  himself  as  the  represen- 
tative. 

Verses  7-25,  as  a  whole,  are  his  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion: If  we,  as  you  say,  have  misapprehended  the 
true  function  of  law  in  relation  to  our  salvation,  what 


zoo         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


Chap.  VII.,  V.  I : — Know  ye  not,  brethren,  {/or  I  speak  to 
them  that  know  the  law,)  how  that  the  law  hath  dominion  over 
a  man  as  long  as  he  liveth  f 


then  is  its  true  function  ?  Is  it  sinful  in  its  tendency? 
This  question  constitues  what  we  may  call  the  "  third 
objection  "  to  Paul's  doctrine  of  salvation,  and  we  see 
that  it  bears  directly  on  the  specific  doctrine  of  sanc- 
tification  (not  sinlessness).  We  must  notice,  however, 
that  Paul  does  not  reason  merely  negatively,  but  that 
in  meeting  objections  he  presents  his  own  positive 
and  inspired  views. 

V.  I.  Know  ye  not,  brethren.  The  Revised 
Version,  following  the  Greek  more  exactly,  begins 
this  sentence  with  "or,"  the  force  of  which  may  be 
indicated  thus :  Or,  if  you  do  not  perceive  and  admit 
the  truth  of  my  teaching,  from  what  I  have  said,  that 
freedom  from  the  bond-service  of  sin  implies  freedom 
from  legal  bondage,  let  us  consider  it  then  from  an- 
other point  of  view.  Do  you  not  know,  etc.  Paul 
employs  a  well-known  legal  principle  to  illustrate  the 
emancipation  of  the  believer  from  the  bondage  of  the 
law.  Hath  dominion  over  a  man.  The  term 
man  here  denotes  simply  a  human  being,  whether 
man  or  woman.  The  law  permitted  a  husband  to 
remarry  in  case  of  the  death  of  his  wife,  or  the  wife 
in  case  of  the  death  of  the  husband.  Paul  selects  the 
latter  as  his  illustration,  because  death  alone  could 
free  the  woman  from  the  law  of  her  husband,  whereas 
the  husband  might  free  himself  from  his  wife  merely 
by  divorcement.  We  mav  discover  another  reason  in 
the  application  which  the  Apostle  makes  of  this  in 
verse  4  and  following. 


Chapter  VII.  201 


V.  2 : — For  the  woman  which  hath  a  husband  is  bound  by 
the  law  to  her  husband  so  lo7ig  as  he  liveth  ;  but  if  the  htis- 
band  be  dead,  she  is  loosed  from  the  law  of  her  husband. 

V.  3 : — So  then  if,  while  her  husba?id  liveth,  she  be  married 
to  another  man,  she  shall  be  called  an  adulteress :  but  if  her 
htisba?td  be  dead,  she  is  free  from  that  law  ;  so  that  she  is  no 
adulteress,  though  she  be  married  to  another  man. 

V.  4 :—  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  ye  also  are  become  dead  to 
the  law  by  the  body  of  Christ ;  that  ye  should  be  married  to 
another,  even  to  him  who  is  raised  from  the  dead,  that  xve 
should  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God. 

Vs.  2,  3.  IB^or  the  woman,  etc.  That  is,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  legal  principle  quoted  in  verse  i, 
when  the  husband  died,  the  woman  in  her  capacity  as 
wife  also  died ;  the  marital  bond  is  severed. 

V.  4.  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  Paul  tells  his 
readers,  whom  he  affectionately  calls  his  brethren, 
that  the  same  principle  operates  in  the  sphere  of  the 
spiritual,  in  consequence  of  which  the  believer  is  made 
dead  to  the  law,  which  here  corresponds  to  the  dead 
husband.  The  relation  between  the  believing  soul 
and  the  law  is  severed. 

By  the  body  of  Christ.  The  crucified  body  of 
Christ  is  that  by  which  Paul  here  represents  the  soul 
as  being  itself  put  to  death — that  is,  put  to  death  in 
respect  to  the  former  husband,  the  law.  In  chapter 
vi.  6,  this  crucified  body  of  Christ  was  that  by  which 
the  soul  was  made  dead  to  sin,  the  master.  He  draws 
all  believers  unto  him  into  communion  with  him  in 
his  death.  As  he  was  put  to  death,  so  they  in  him 
and  through  him  are  put  to  death  to  sin  and  to  the 
law.  But  in  what  respect  has  the  soul,  identifying 
itself  by  faith  with  Christ,  been  in  him  put  to  death 
to  the  law?     In  the  sense  that  it  can  no  longer  be 


ii02  The  BPISTI.E  to  the  Romans. 

V.  5 : — For  when  we  were  in  the  fiesh,  the  motions  of  sins^ 
which  were  by  the  law,  did  work  in  our  members  to  bring 
forth  fruit  unto  death. 

required  to  obey  it  as  law.  What  the  believing  soul 
does  it  does  freely  and  not  as  one  under  law.  It  has 
in  itself  a  sense  of  release  from  law  as  such.  That 
which  it  formerly  viewed  as  law  it  ceases  to  view  as 
law ;  it  acts  henceforth  with  spontaneity,  doing  what 
it  pleases,  because  it  can  not  please  to  do  otherwise 
than  right.  Christ  died  to  the  law  also,  in  that  he  was 
no  longer  subject  to  it  after  his  death  in  the  sense  in 
which  he  was  subject  to  it  before  his  death.  Before 
his  death  he  was  subject  to  it  as  a  man,  any  man 
whatsoever,  having  voluntarily,  by  his  incarnation, 
become  so.  After  his  death  he  was  no  longer  subject 
to  it,  only  in  so  far  as  one  may  be  said  to  be  subject  to 
his  own  will  or  nature. 

That  ye  should  be  married  to  another.  The 
object  of  severing  the  union  with  the  former  husband, 
the  law,  was  that  there  might  be  a  union  with  another 
husband,  to  wit,  the  risen  Christ.  In  harmony  with 
this  figure,  which  expresses  a  deep  and  essential  spir- 
itual fact,  the  union  with  Christ  is  often  called  a  mar- 
riage, Christ  being  the  Bridegroom.  Fruit  unto 
God,  See  John  xv.  i-6;  Gal.  v.  22,  23.  Compare 
with  the  fruits  in  verse  5,  and  Gal.  v.  19-21. 

V.  5.  In  the  ftesh.  This  does  not  mean  "  in  the 
body."  The  expression  is  used  in  two  senses:  i.  To 
denote  man  before  he  has  died  to  sin  and  risen  with 
and  in  Christ  to  newness  of  life— unregenerate  man. 
2.  Regenerate  man,  considered  as  yet  having  in  him 
some  elements  of  sin,  or  of  the  unregenerate  nature, 


Chapter  VII.  203 


V.  6: — But  now  we  are  delivered  from  the  law,  that  being 
dead  wherein  we  were  held ;  that  we  should  serve  in  newness 
of  spirit^  a?id  not  in  the  oldness  of  the  letter. 

as  in  the  expression,  the  spirit  is  willing,  but  "  the 
flesh"  is  weak.  It  is  here  used  in  the  first  of  these 
senses. 

The  motions  of  sin.  The  sinful  affections  and 
passions  of  our  unregenerate  nature,  which,  however 
dormant  they  may  apparently  lie,  are  so  easily  excited, 
and  when  thus  moved  in  our  members  as  their  instru- 
ments, produce  yet  greater  corruption  and  other  sins, 
which  may  be  called  '*  fruit  unto  death."  By  the 
law.  The  apparently  dormant  sinful  affections  and 
passions  are  excited  by  the  law.  The  law  irritates 
them,  moves  them  to  action.  It  is  "  human  nature  "  to 
wish  most  to  do  that  which  it  is  forbidden  to  do. 
Such  is  sin. 

V.  6.  Delivered  from  the  law.  And  hence  re- 
lieved of  its  irritation.  (See  notes  on  verses  2-4.) 
That  being  dead,  etc.  That  relation  wherein  we 
were  held  to  sin  and  law  being  dissolved,  and  hence 
we  ourselves  being  dead  to  sin  and  law.  This  death, 
as  we  have  seen,  is  followed  by  a  resurrection  to  new- 
ness of  life,  and  hence  we  now  serve  God  in  "  newness 
of  spirit,"  etc.;  that  is,  our  obedience  or  service  of 
God  is  no  longer  a  mere  mechanical  and  heartless  serv- 
ice, rendered  merely  "  for  conscience  sake,"  but  it  is 
engaged  in  heartily  and  enjoyed. 

Paul,  having  now  explained  at  sufficient  length  what 
he  meant  by  freedom  from  law  (vi.  14),  proceeds  to 
set  forth  ..the  true  spiritual  function  of  law  in  the  two 
sections  as  indicated  above.  In  doing  this  he  answers 
what  we  may  regard  as  the 


:204         The;  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  7  : —  H^/iai  shall  we  say  then  f  Is  the  law  sin  ?  God  for- 
bid. Nay,  I  had  not  known  sin,  but  by  the  law :  for  I  had  not 
known  lust,  except  the  law  had  said,  Thou  shall  not  covet. 


Third  Objection 

to  his  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace  through  faith,  as 
against  the  doctrine  of  legalistic  salvation.  In  doing 
so  he  sets  forth  the  true  function  of  the  law  in  its  two- 
fold relation. 

I.  In  relation  to  the  unre generate^  producing  conviction. 

V.  7.  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Notice  the 
repeated  occurrence  of  this  phrase  in  chapter  iv.  i ; 
vi.  I,  15,  and  in  this  verse.  In  the  three  last  instances 
it  introduces  an  objection  to  his  doctrine  of  sanctifi- 
cation,  which  Paul  may  be  supposed  to  put  into  the 
mouth  of  an  opponent.  Here  the  objection  is,  Is  law 
then  something  in  itself  sinful,  that  you  should  so 
closely  identify  it  with  sin  as  to  make  freedom  from 
sin  involve  also  freedom  from  the  law  ? 

(The  Answer.)  God  forbid.  "  Let  it  not  be  so." 
And  then  the  Apostle  proceeds  to  illustrate  from  his 
own  experience  that  instead  of  the  law  being  sinful, 
its  true  function  in  respect  to  sin  is  not  to  create  sin, 
but  to  expose  sin  in  its  true  nature,  to  bring  to  our 
conscious  knowledge  its  exceeding  sinfulness.  Had 
not  known  sin.  Paul  does  not  mean  that  had  it 
not  been  for  the  law,  no  such  thing  as  sin  could  have 
existed,  and  hence  of  course  could  not  have  been 
known ;  but  he  means  that  he  could  not  have  fully 
known  it  as  existing  in  himself.     (See  iii.  20J 

I  had  not  known  Insty  etc.  The  word  "  known  ' 
here  is  not  the  same  in  meaning  as  in  the  former 


Chapter  VII.  205 


V.  8: — But  sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  commandment, 
wrought  in  me  all  manner  of  concupiscence.  For  without 
the  law  sin  was  dead. 

V.  9  : — For  I  was  alive  without  the  law  once  :  but  when  the 
com,mandment  ca^ne,  sin  revived,  and  I  died. 

clause.  Paul  means  that  lie  could  not  have  had  the 
rational  apprehension  of  sin,  as  existing  in  himself, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  experiential  knowledge  which 
he  acquired  of  his  heart  b}-  means  of  the  light  which 
the  incoming  of  the  law  shed  upon  it.  We  do  not 
know  how  corrupt  and  prone  to  evil  we  are  until  we 
are  placed  under  prohibition. 

V.  8.  But  sin  taking  occasion^  etc.  The  law 
did  not  create  the  sin  or  sinfulness  that  is  in  my  heart, 
but  no  sooner  did  the  law  say  to  me,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
do  so  and  so,"  than  sin  started  into  quick  activity  and 
said,  "Thou  shalt."  Immediatelj^  I  knew  how  sinful 
I  was,  for  the  sin  w^hich  said  "Thou  shalt"  was  my 
own  sinful  nature.  Prior  to  this,  sin  seemed  to  be 
dead  or  dormant  in  me ;  but  it  was  only  lying  stealth- 
ily in  ambush,  as  a  wild  beast  ready  to  leap  upon  its 
prey  so  soon  as  the  iprey  seems  about  to  escape  it. 

V.  9.  For  I  was  alive,  etc.  That  is,  I  thought 
I  was  alive,  for  the  reason  that,  as  I  said,  I  did  not 
know  sin  was  in  me,  even  as  a  part  of  my  very  self. 

The  commandment  came.  A  specific  law  bear- 
ing upon  a  specific  sin,  as  lust,  theft,  covetousness, 
etc.  Sin  revived.  It  only  seemed  to  be  dead,  and 
the  very  moment  the  law  addressed  me  and  reminded 
me  of  my  danger,  and  bade  me  escape  for  my  life,  sin 
made  the  fatal- leap  and  slew  me.  In  verse  11  Paul 
says  he  was  slain;  in  this,  however,  he  says  simply 


2o6         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  lo : — And  the  comniandmenty  whcih  was  ordained  to  life^ 
I  found  to  be  unto  death. 

that  he  died.  But  the  death  of  sin's  victims  is  always 
a  violent  one.  Translating  the  figurative  into  plain 
language,  Paul  means  here  by  "dying"  that  he  came 
to  the  recognition  of  himself  as  a  sinful  man,  and 
that  this  recognition  crushed  all  the  sense  of  compla- 
cency and  self-righteousness  out  of  him,  as  it  does  in 
the  case  of  all  who  see  themselves  vividly  in  the  light 
of  the  law.  "  Man's  death  is  sin's  life,"  says  Calvin, 
"and  sin's  death  is  man's  life."  Or,  in  other  words, 
if  I  am  alive  as  a  self-righteous  man,  I  must  be  dead 
as  a  conscious  sinner,  and  if  I  am  alive  as  a  conscious 
sinner,  I  must  be  dead  as  a  self-righteous  man.  If  I 
am  alive  in  the  one  respect  I  am  dead  in  the  other. 

V.  lo.  The  commandment  which  was  or- 
dained unto  life.  The  divine  intention  of  the  law 
was  to  guide  to  holiness,  peace,  life.  (See  Lev.  xviii. 
5 ;  Deut.  v.  29,  33 ;  Ps.  xix.  7-1 1 ;  Ps.  cxix.  I  found 
to  be  unto  death,  Paul  seems  to  intimate  that  such 
an  issue  of  the  law  in  his  own  case  was  to  him  at  the 
time  a  matter  of  sad  surprise.  The  reason  why  he 
found  it  to  be  death  to  him  was  twofold  :  i .  He  sepa- 
rated the  law  from  God's  grace,  and  sought  by  the 
former  alone  to  attain  a  self-righteousness  of  which  he 
might  boast,  and  which  he  thought  would  make  him 
acceptable  to  God ;  his  heart,  or  inmost  nature,  was 
not  right.  2.  Occupying  this  attitude  toward  the  law, 
it  served  only  as  a  constant  harassment  and  provoca- 
tion to  sin,  and  thus  revealed  to  him  his  inmost  and 
exceeding  sinfulness,  and  this  recognition  of  himself 
as  he  really  was  in  God's  sight  was  "  conviction."    So 


Chapter  VII.  207 


V.  II : — For  sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  cointnandmeni^  de- 
ceived me,  and  by  it  slew  me. 

V.  12: — Wherefore  the  law  is  holy,  and  the  comtnandment 
holy,  and  just,  and  good. 

the  law  must,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  serve  every 
unregenerate  man.  No  man  can  ascend  to  the  saving 
recognition  of  God  who  does  not  first  descend  to  the 
penitential  recognition  of  himself  as  a  sinner. 

V.  II.  F'or  sin,  etc.  The  same  meaning  as  verse 
8,  expressed  in  slightly  different  form.  Deceived 
me.  It  was  sin,  his  own  sinful  heart,  that  deceived 
him.  It  was  not  the  law's  fault.  He  was  not  what 
he  thought  he  was,  and  so  sin,  by  means  of  the  law, 
and  in  the  manner  already  described,  slew  him.  He 
was  no  longer,  even  in  his  own  estimation,  a  spiritu- 
ally live  man.     See  notes  on  verses  8-10. 

V.  12.  Wherefore.  So  that.  It  follows  from  all 
this  that  instead  of  the  law  being  sinful  (verse  7),  it  is 
holy;  it  is  nothing  but  the  expression  to  us  of  the 
holy  will  or  nature  of  God  himself,  forbidding  all 
impure  and  unholy  feelings  and  desires.  The  word 
**law"  is  a  general  term,  including  each  of  the  sev- 
eral commandments.  Each  commandment  is  "just," 
because  it  makes  no  unfair  demands  on  any  one  in 
any  respect,  and  if  any  man  could  and  would  render 
to  it  a  perfect  obedience,  it  would  certainly  constitute 
him  really  righteous.  It  is  "  good,"  because  it  is  nei- 
ther useless  nor  pernicious ;  it  is  what  may  be  called 
"  a  good  thing ;  "  it  was  intended  to  be  a  guide  to  life, 
and  it  actually  is  the  means  whereby  the  unregener- 
ate man  is  brought  to  a  true  knowledge  of  himself,  or 
is  convicted  of  sin. 


2o8  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  13 : —  IVas  then  that  which  is  good  made  death  unto  me? 
God  forbid.  But  sin,  that  it  might  appear  sin,  working 
death  in  me  by  that  which  is  good ;  that  sin  by  the  command- 
ment might  become  exceeding  sinful. 

V.  13.  Was  then  that  which  is  good  made 
death  unto  me?  Was  then  the  command,  which  I 
have  pronounced  to  be  good,  the  cause  of  my  sla)- ing, 
or  the  cause  of  the  death  I  have  just  described  myself 
as  dying  ?  By  no  means,  says  Paul,  but  sin  was  the 
cause  of  it.  But  the  law  was  made  sin's  instrument 
of  death,  in  order  that  thereby  the  true  nature  of  sin 
as  it  exists  in  me  might  be  made  known  to  me ;  or  in 
other  words,  in  order  that  thereby  I  might  see  myself 
as  I  really  am,  exceedingly  sinful.  To  "  become  ex- 
ceedingly sinful,"  in  this  verse,  is  not  to  be  made  sin- 
ful, but  to  be  revealed,  or  become  known,  to  one's 
self  as  already  being  so. 

II.    T/ie  functio7i  of  the  law  in  relatioji  to  the  regener^ 
ated  man. 

In  this  instance  is  produced  a  sense  of  a  conflict 
which  proves  that  a  remnant  of  the  sinful  principle 
still  dwells  in  him  (which  conflict,  however,  is  to  be 
regarded  as  wholesome,  this  being  the  only  way  to 
reach  ultimate  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.) 
We  should  notice  that  Paul  here  speaks  of  himself  as 
a  sort  of  twofold  or  dual  being.  Himself  considered 
as  carnal,  or  as  having  an  element  of  the  sinful  prin- 
ciple still  in  him,  is  one  self,  or  "  I."  Himself  consid- 
ered as  regenerate,  or  apart  from  this  sinful  element, 
is  his  other  self,  or  "I,"  and  this  he  regards  as  his 
real  or  veritable  self. 

V.  14.  The  law  is  spiritual.    That  is,  holy,  just, 


Chapter  VII. 


209 


V.  14: — For  we  know  that  the  law  is  spiritual:  but  I  am 
carnaly  sold  under  sin, 

V.  15  -.—For  that  which  I  do,  I  allow  not :  for  what  I 
would,  that  do  I  not ;  but  what  I  hate,  that  do  /. 

and  good.  The  word  "spiritual"  in  some  places  in 
the  Bible,  as  i  Cor.  xv.  44,  means  not  made  of  matter, 
not  **  material : "  but  here  it  means  holy,  pure,  desti- 
tute of  carnality.  I  am  carnal.  By  carnal  is  meant 
not  *' fleshly"  in  the  literal  sense,  but  the  opposite  of 
spiritual — that  is,  not  holy,  not  sinless.  When  Paul 
says,  *'  I  am  carnal,"  he  simply  means  that  there  is 
yet  in  him,  though  regenerated,  a  remnant,  only  too 
vigorous,  of  the  "  old  man,"  the  old  sinful  self  or  nat- 
ure. This  he  here  calls  "I."  This  ''I"  is  sin's 
bond-servant — "sold  under  sin." 

V.  15.  That  which  I  do.  The  word  "do"  oc- 
curs three  times  in  this  verse,  for  which,  however, 
Paul  used  three  different  words.  Though  they  may 
often  be  used  interchangeably,  they  are  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  quite  synon^^mous  in  this  verse.  The  first 
"  do  "  (katergazomai)  means  to  work  out — that  is,  to  per- 
form an  act,  or  several  acts,  regarded  merely  as  a  step 
toward  a  result ;  the  doer  may  or  may  not  know  in  ad- 
vance what  this  result  is  to  be.  Here  he  does  not 
know.  The  second  "  do "  (prassein)  means  to  work 
at — that  is,  it  is  an  act,  or  series  of  acts,  considered 
not  simply  as  such,  but  as  rational  steps  to  a  recog- 
nized end.  Here  the  end  which  Paul  wished  to  aim 
at  he  did  not  aim  at.  The  third  "  do  "  (poiein)  means 
to  do  in  the  sense,  not  of  working  blindly  toward  an 
end,  not  of  working  intelligently  at  a  thing,  but  in 
the  sense  of  finishing  or  accomplishing  it ;  as  when 
we  say  the  work  is  done,  the  day  is  done,  etc. 
14 


2IO  The  EPISTI.E  to  the  Romans. 

Paul  in  this  verse  presents  himself  in  a  twofold  as- 
pect, (i)  as  a  regenerate  man,  (2)  as  a  regenerate  man 
who  is  worried  and  blinded  by  the  remnant  of  the 
sinful  principle  which  is  still  in  him.  What  he,  in 
the  first  aspect,  wishes  and  aims  to  accomplish  he  does 
not  wish  or  aim  at  in  the  other  aspect.  His  acts  then 
he  represents  as  being  performed  blindly  and  in  the 
midst  of  entanglement ;  he  kaows  not ;  he  works  as 
one  who  merely  does  the  bidding  of  another;  and 
at  last  when  he  sees  the  result,  his  regenerate  self 
loathes  it,  hates  with  a  moral  reprobation.  So  it  is,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  in  the  experience  of  every  Chris- 
tian. He  seems  sometimes  to  have  two  selves — an 
**  I,"  and  another  "I."  Chrysostom  says  in  his  Hom- 
ily on  this  chapter,  "  I  am  blinded,  feel  carried  away, 
I  find  a  violence  done  to  me,  I  get  tripped  up  without 
knowing  how." 

Such,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  plain  meaning  of  this 
verse,  in  which  the  word  rendered  "  to  allow  "  is  given 
its  usual  meaning  of  "to  know,"  as  in  the  margin  of 
our  Authorized  Version.  Such  also  substantially  is 
the  interpretation  of  Calvin,  Meyer,  Godet,  Gifibrd, 
and  a  good  many  other  commentators ;  though  it  is 
perhaps  proper  to  say  that  others,  as  Grotius,  Mac- 
knight,  and  Hodge,  think  that  the  word  may  as  well 
be  rendered  here  "to  allow"  in  the  sense  of  "to  ap- 
prove." But  if  Paul  had  meant  this  he  might  easily 
have  said  it.  Whether,  however,  he  meant  it  or  not 
in  this  first  clause  of  the  verse,  it  is  obviously  true,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  that  as  a  regenerate  man  he  did  hate 
or  morally  reprobate  what  he  actually  accomplished 
in  his  capacity  of  one  who  still  had  some  sin  in  him ; 
and  this  fact  he  expressly  states  in  the  last  clause  of 
the  verse.     Paul  could  not  work  out  what  lie  wished 


Chapter  VII.  211 


V.  16: — If  then  I  do  that  which  I  would  not,  I  consent 
^nto  the  law  that  it  is  good. 

V.  17 : — Now  then  it  is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that 
dwelleth  in  fne. 

to  because  he  could  not  work  at  what  he  wished  to, 
and  the  reason  why  he  could  not  do  this  to  the  extent 
to  which  he  wished  was  because  he  was  so  blinded 
and  embarrassed  by  his  sinful  instincts  and  impulses. 
He  does  not  excuse  himself,  however,  but  accuses  the 
tyranny  of  the  sin  yet  in  him,  and  sadly  deplores  his 
misery.  He  so  loathes  the  actual  result  as  compared 
with  what  he  wished  to  do. 

V.  16.  If  then  I  dOy  etc.  This  is  good  and  plain 
logic.     Thus : 

The  law  hates,  or  morally  reprobates,  the  doing  of 
such  and  such  things. 

I  also,  as  a  regenerate  man,  hate,  or  morally  repro- 
bate, the  same. 

Therefore,  I  and  the  law  agree, 

Or,  "I  consent  that  the  law  is  good."  The  word 
"good  "is  also  applied  to  the  law  in  verse  12;  but 
there  it  was  agathos,  good  in  the  sense  of  morally 
useful ;  here  it  is  kalos,  good  in  the  sense  of  morally 
beautiful  or  excellent,  as  when  we  speak  of  a  "  beau- 
tiful character,  considered  merely  as  a  character.  The 
law  is  good  in  both  senses.  Hence  the  law  is  not  sin- 
ful (verse  7). 

V.  17.  Now  then.  That  is.  The  conclusion  is,  if  I 
"  consent "  to  the  laws,  that  it  is  the  good,  it  is  not  I  that 
do  these  things  which  the  holy  law  hates  and  forbids ; 
it  is  not  the  true,  real,  regenerate  "  I ; "  it  is  that  other 
^'  I,"  the  "  old  man,"  the  remnant  of  the  sinful  prin- 


212         The  Bpistlk  to  the  Romans. 

V.  i8 : — For  I  know  that  in  me  {that  is,  in  my  fleshy  dwell- 
eth  no  good  thing  :  for  to  will  is  present  with  me  ;  but  how 
to  perform,  that  which  is  good  I  find  not. 

V.  19 : — For  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not :  but  the  evil 
which  I  would  not,  that  I  do. 

ciple  that  still  dwells  in  me,  and  that  struggles  so  hard 
for  life. 

V.  18.  I  know  that  in  me.  Here  he  means  again 
that  other  **  me,"  the  "flesh,"  himself  considered  as 
yet  having  in  him  the  sinful  principle ;  and  this  other 
"  me  "  is  all  bad.  And  then  he  proceeds  to  say  that 
it  is  easy  enough  for  his  regenerate  self  to  wish  to  do 
right,  but  that  his  other  self  interposes  obstacles  and 
difficulties  which  embarrass  him  not  a  little. 

Paul,  as  has  been  stated  above,  is  in  these  verses 
(14-25)  describing  himself  as  a  converted  man,  en- 
gaged in  conflict  with  what  I  have  figuratively  called 
his  other  self  And  in  this  he  is  the  type  of  all  Chris- 
tians. But  is  it  necessary  for  every  man  to  be  a 
"  Christian "  before  he  can  realize  in  himself  this 
duality  of  selves?  Before  he  can  experience  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree  this  inward  struggle  ?  No,  it  is 
not  necessary ;  for  the  great  fulfilled  promise,  "  I  will 
put  enmity  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed,"  is  the 
primal  historical  fact  that  renders  the  salvation  of  any 
man  possible.  Woe  to  him  between  whom  and  the 
seed  of  the  serpent  there  is  no  more,  not  even  at  long 
intervals,  any  conflict.  But  the  Christian  realizes  the 
antagonism  with  exceeding  sensitiveness. 

V.  19.  For  the  good  that  I  would  do.  That 
I  wish  to  accomplish.  The  ideal  Christian  never, 
reaches  his  ideal  of  Christian  usefulness.     The  evil 


Chapter  VII.  213 


V.  20  '.—Now  if  I  do  that  I  would  not,  it  is  no  more  I  that 
do  it^  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me. 

V.  21 : — I  find  then  a  law,  that,  when  I  would  do  good,  evil 
is  present  with  me. 


.  .  .  that  I  do.  This  word  "do"  is  not  the  same 
as  in  the  first  clause.  The  apostle  says  in  substance : 
I  do  wish  to  accomplish  good,  but  that  sinful  element 
seems  ever  present  in  me  to  prevent  me;  I  do  not 
wish  to  practice  or  follow  after  evil,  but  it  seems  to 
me  that  I  follow  after  it  in  spite  of  myself.  So  Paul 
is  not  meaning  to  say  that  he  tries  to  do  good,  and  yet 
at  the  same  time  to  express  a  morbid  depreciation  of 
the  value  of  his  Christian  work.  It  is  only  a  sad  con- 
fession that  however  nearly  right  he  may  do,  or  how- 
ever much  good,  it  is  done  in  the  face  of  an  enemy 
who  opposes  him  in  his  very  camp — and  this  enemy 
is  his  own  sinful  nature. 

V.  20.  Now  if  I  dOy  etc.  Paul  concludes  from 
the  foregoing  that  it  is  really  not  his  true,  responsible 
self  that  does  the  evil  which  he  so  laments,  but  that 
it  is  the  alter  ego,  that  other  "I,"  which  he  here  calls 
sin,  or  the  sinful  principle  which  yet  dwelt  in  him. 
(But  he  who  dwells  in  me  is  not  "I,"  for  I  can  not 
dwell  in  myself).  In  verse  18  he  calls  it  "  my  flesh," 
in  verse  24  he  calls  it  ''  the  body  of  this  death,"  in  vi. 
6  he  calls  it  our  "  old  man."  If  we  will  remember 
that  Paul  is  necessarily  using  words  in  a  more  or  less 
figurative  sense,  and  instead  of  straining  his  figures, 
rather  observe  his  thought,  there  will  be  no  difficulty 
in  following  him. 

V.  21.  I  £nd  then  a  law.  This  inward  spiritual 
conflict,  these  daily  battles,  these  fallings  and  risings 


214  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  22 : — For  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward 
man : 

V.  23  : — But  I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity 
to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  m,y  m,em,bers. 

again,  which  the  apostle  has  been  describing,  are 
neither  accidental  nor  incidental,  but  are  a  character- 
istic principle  of  his  life,  and  of  the  life  of  every 
Christian.  And  this  characteristic  and  ever  operating^ 
principle  Paul  here  calls  a  law. 

V.  22.  J  delight  in  the  law,  etc.  See  verse  16. 
An  unregenerate  man  could  scarcely  be  represented 
as  saying,  "  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God."  After  the 
inward  man.  This  expression  qualifies  the  "  I." 
He  means  simply  that  I  as  a  regenerate  man  delight, 
etc.  His  use,  however,  of  the  word  "  inward  man," 
as  descriptive  of  himself  as  a  regenerate  man,  is  very 
natural;  as  he  had  figuratively,  in  verse  18,  called  his 
other  self,  or  himself  in  the  other  aspect,  "the  flesh," 
which  is  outward,  so  here  he  speaks  of  the  inward. 
In  2  Cor.  iv.  16,  however,  the  expression  "  outward 
man  "  denotes  our  physical  life,  or  simply  the  "  body," 
while  "inward  man,"  in  the  same  verse,  is  not  the 
soul  as  such,  but  the  soul  as  regenerated  and  devoted 
to  Christ's  service.  It  is  only  such  a  soul  that  is  daily 
renewed  or  refreshened.  "  Spiritual  man,"  and  "  in- 
ward man,"  are  expressions  standing  opposed  to  "  car- 
nal man,"  or  fleshly  man,  or  "natural  man,"  or  man 
as  he  is  by  nature. 

V.  23.  J  see  another  law.  This  other  law  is  the 
same  as  "that  mentioned  in  verse  21,  on  which  see 
the  note.     The  law  of  my  mind.    This  law  is  the 


Chapter  VII. 


215 


V.  24 : — O  wretched  man  than  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death  ? 


law  or  principle,  according  to  which  he  delights  in  the 
law  of  God.  The  law  of  sin.  The  law  of  sin  is 
that  persistent  and  domineering  dictation  of  the  sinful 
principle  which  Paul  has  so  often  said  still  dwells  in 
him.  It  is  called^he  "mind  of  the  flesh  "  in  Col.  ii. 
18.  It  is  not  the  same  as  the  law  mentioned  in 
verse  21. 

So  we  have  in  these  three  verses  four  different  laws : 
(i)  The  law  that  when  I  would  do  good,  etc.,  verse 
21 ;  {2)  The  law  of  God,  verse  22 ;  (3)  The  law  of  my 
mind  (not  the  mind  of  the  "  flesh "),  according  to 
which  law  I  delight  in  No.  2  ;  (4)  The  law  of  sin.  All 
these  may  be  called  laws,  because  they  operate  upon 
us  as  forces  in  a  uniform  way. 

V.  24.  O  wretched  man.  Not,  O  guilty  man ! 
This  might  have  been  the  language  of  a  convicted, 
but  unconverted  man ;  here,  however,  it  is  the  "  I " 
of  verse  22  who  speaks  in  eager  longing  for  a  deliver- 
er from  the  ever-wear^dng  conflict.  Instead,  however, 
of  speaking  of  the  enemy  here  as  "  our  old  man,"  or 
"my  flesh,"  etc.,  he  speaks  of  it  as  the  "body  of  this 
death."  This  figure  may  have  been  suggested  by 
either  one  or  all  of  the  following  circumstances  : 

(i)  The  use  of  the  word  captivity  in  the  preceding 
verse.  He  is  led  as  a  captive,  and  the  body  to  which 
he  is  captive  is  so  loathsome  to  him  that  it  may  well 
be  called  a  dead  body.  He  does  not  mean  that  he 
longs  for  deliverance  from  his  own  body,  but  from 
sin's  body.     Or, 

(2)  By  the  fact  that  sin  and  death  may  well  be 


2i6  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  25 : — /  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  So 
then  with  the  mind  I  myself  serve  the  law  of  God ;  but  with 
the  flesh  the  law  of  sin. 

called  only  two  names  for  one  and  the  same  thing. 
To  be  Sin's  captive  is  to  be  Death's  captive.  Or  sin 
is  Death's  body ;  or,  death  is  Sin's  fruit.  They  are 
always  associated  together  in  some  way.  Death  has 
no  sting,  no  victor}^  no  loathsomeness,  no  any  thing, 
that  is  not  obtained  from  sin.     Or, 

(3)  By  a  recurrence  in  thought  to  the  fact  that  sin 
as  to  him  (Paul)  had  been  crucified  (vi.  6),  and  that 
still  to  its  crucified  and  loathsome  body  (called  the  old 
man)  he  is  bound  as  a  captive. 

Paul's  metaphors  vary  as  he  changes  the  point  of 
view  from  which  he  looks  at  his  object.  We  must  as 
nearly  as  possible  stand  on  his  ground  if  we  would 
rightly  appreciate  his  language. 

V.  25.  Thanks  be  to  God,  etc.  This  language 
is  also  the  outburst  of  the  "  I  "  of  verse  21.  It  is  not 
an  answer  to  the  question  of  verse  24.  Paul,  how- 
ever, knows  that  there  is  a  way  of  deliverance ;  he 
knows  that  the  conflict,  the  captivity,  or  under  what- 
ever aspect  it  may  be  viewed,  will  not  end  in  sin's 
favor ;  and  this  thought  is  the  ground  of  his  thanks- 
giving. But  as  he  can  not  think  of  deliverance  and 
of  the  complete  overthrow  of  sin  without  also  think- 
ing of  Christ,  so  neither  could  he  say  "  I  thank  God  " 
without  also  saying  ''  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 

So  then.  In  view  of  what,  or  as  follows  from 
what,  has  been  said.  With  the  mind  I  myself 
serve.  Rather,  I  myself  with  the  mind  serve.  That 
is  my  real,  true  self,  as  opposed  to  that  other  so-called 


Chapter  VII.  21 


self,  which  Paul  again  designates  *'the  flesh."  The 
one  and  the  same  man  Paul  felt  the  presence  in  him 
of  two  principles,  or  elements,  at  one  and  the  same 
time — the  renewed  and  the  unrenewed,  the  spirit  and 
the  flesh,  etc. ;  and  with  one  of  these  he  served  God, 
with  the  other  he  served  sin.  But  as  Paul  had  but 
one  personality,  the  one  with  which  he  served  God  was 
his  real  self. 

The  life  of  the  Christian  in  this  world  must  always 
be  more  or  less  one  of  spiritual  conflict ;  but  it  is  also 
true  that  the  Christian  may  at  all  times  say,  **  I  thank 
God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  for  the  same 
reason  that  Paul  said  it. 

Dei<ivkrance  and  Security. 

(Chap.  VIII.,  1-39.) 
In  further  unfolding  the  doctrine  of  sanctification, 
begun  with  chapter  vi.,  Paul  sets  forth  in  this  chapter 
the  nature  of  the  deliverance  wrought  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  believer;  which  work,  he  has  said,  is 
guaranteed  by  his  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 
The  chapter  is  an  enlargement  upon  the  thought  al- 
ready sketched  in  chapter  v.  i-ii,  to  wit :  The.  securi- 
ty of  the  believer,  and  hence  the  certainty  of  his  final 
salvation  and  glorification.  In  view  of  this  security 
the  apostle  breathes  throughout  the  chapter  a  spirit 
of  joyous  exultation,  in  which  the  following  argu- 
ments are  apparent : 

1.  Condemnation  removed  and  spiritual  life  secured, 
verses  i-ii,  the  review  of  a  thought  already  pre- 
sented. 

2.  Adoption  as  sons  of  God,  etc.,  verses  12-17. 

3.  Hope  of  a  yet  greater  deliverance,  and  strength, 
in  the  midst  of  trials,  18-30. 


2i8  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  VIII.,  V.  I : — There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation' 
to  them  which  are  in  Christ  JesuSy  7vho  walk  not  after  the 
flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit. 


The  chapter  closes  with  a  grand  hymn  of  assurance 
of  salvation — "the  blessedness  of  God's  child,  who 
lies  in  his  bosom  in  full  faith  of  eternal  love." 

The  Christian  state  of  deliverance  and  security,, 
which  Paul  so  feelingly  describes  in  this  chapter,  is 
not  to  be  regarded  as  following  chapter  vii.  14-25, 
chronologically;  for  the  Christian  may  realize  both  his 
freedom  from  condemnation,  and  also  all  else  that  is. 
affirmed  of  him  in  this  chapter  as  being  the  work  of 
the  Spirit,  and  at  the  same  time  have  in  him  the  sense 
of  painful  conflict  between  the  "  old  man  "  and  the 
"  new,"  as  described  in  the  last  section  of  chapter  vii. 
It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  all  Christians  equal- 
ly experience  this  conflict,  or  that  the  same  Christian, 
experiences  it  equally  at  all  times.  But,  however  va- 
riable or  intense  the  experience  may  be,  it  is  the  priv- 
ilege of  every  Christian  to  join  with  Paul  in  the 
triumphant  hymn  with  which  he  closes  the  chapter. 

V.  I.  There  is  therefore.  The  "  therefore  "  con- 
nects immediately  with  vii.  25,  "  With  the  mind  I  my- 
self serve  the  law  of  God ;  there  is  therefore  now  no 
condemnation,"  etc.  But  Paul  applies  the  conclusion 
not  only  to  himself,  but  to  all  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 
It  would  amount  to  the  same  thing,  however,  if  we 
should  say  that  the  "  therefore,"  with  which  this  chap- 
ter opens,  introduces  us  to  the  grand  conclusion  which 
follows  from  all  that  the  apostle  has  said  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  sanctification  of  the  believer,  his  relation 
to  the  law,  etc.,  beginning  as  far  back  as  chapter  vi. ;. 


Chapter  VIII. 


219 


or,  in  other  words  still,  it  introduces  the  conclusion 
which  results  from  Paul's  answers  to  all  the  objections 
which  had  been  brought  against  his  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion, and  which  have  been  discussed  in  the  notes  on 
the  preceding  chapters.  These  objections  being  an- 
swered, and  the  doctrine  of  justification  and  sanctifi- 
cation  being  thus  established,  it  follows  that  there  is 
now  no  condemnation  to  any  one  to  whom  the  Holy- 
Spirit  has  applied  this  pkn  of  salvation. 

The  word  now  is  inserted  by  the  apostle  simply  to 
remind  the  believer  that  in  the  state  in  which  he  was 
formerly  his  condemnation  was  a  dread  fact,  whereas, 
in  his  present  state  there  is  none,  and  there  can  never 
be  any ;  it  was  removed  by  justification,  and  is  kept 
away  by  sanctification — that  is,  by  our  being  in  Christ 
Jesus  ;  it  was  removed  by  Christ  as  the  one  who  died 
and  is  kept  away  by  Christ  as  the  one  who  is  risen  and 
lives.  This  is  the  distinction  implied,  or  rather  ex- 
pressed in  other  words,  in  chapter  v.  9.  This  Christ, 
who  by  his  death  and  life  removes  and  ever  afterward 
withholds  condemnation,  will  also  remove  it  from  our 
l)odies,  as  Paul  states  in  verses  1 1  and  24,  on  which 
see  notes. 

Who  are  in  Christ  Jesus.  Those  who  by  faith 
are  in  spiritual  union  with  him,  as  the  branch  is  with 
the  vine.  This  union  began  when  they  died  with 
him,  and  continues  after  they  have  risen  with  him. 
See  notes  on  vi.  i-ii.  Observe  that  Paul  here  places 
the  mediatorial  name,  Christ,  first. 

Who  walk  not  after  the  ftesh,  etc.  These 
words  merely  describe  those  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Only  the  latter  expression  occurs  in  verse  4.  To 
*'  walk  after  the  flesh  "  in  this  and  verse  4,  means  to 
sin  willfully ;  it  does  not  mean  to  sin  in  the  sense  in 


220         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  2: — For  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  fesus  hath 
made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 

which  every  Christian  sins,  or  at  least  the  "  old  man  " 
which  still  exists  in  a  more  or  less  vital  and  active 
state  in  every  Christian  (vi.  14-25).  To  "walk  after 
the  Spirit "  is  to  live  according  to  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
or  the  Holy  Spirit.  When  Christ  was  on  earth  he 
was  with  his  disciples  in  the  body ;  now  he  is  iyi  them 
in  the  person  of  the  Spirit.  In  order  that  he  may  be 
in  them  it  is  necessary  that  they  should  be  in  him. 
The  sap  of  the  vine  can  not  be  in  the  branch  unless 
the  branch  is  in  the  vine. 

V.  2.  The  law  of  the  Spirit,  etc.  Paul  often 
uses  the  word  law.  It  always  means  a  principle  or 
rule  of  action.  Sometimes  the  rule  of  action  referred 
to  is  the  Mosaic  Moral  I^aw ;  sometimes  the  Mosaic 
Ceremonial  Law,  or  the  Mosaic  Law  as  a  whole,  or 
the  law  which  is  written  only  on  man's  heart.  Here 
it  means  the  invariable  rule,  according  to  which  the 
life-giving  Spirit,  which  is  in  us  by  reason  of  our 
union  with  Christ,  must  free  us  from  that  other  law 
called  "  the  law  of  sin  and  death,"  and  which  has  al- 
ready been  explained.  See  particularly  chapter  vii. 
II,  23.  We  have  ever  to  fight  sin  even  in  ourselves; 
but  we  fight  it  as  our  enemy ;  we  do  not  serve  it  as 
our  master  whose  behests  we  willingly  obey.  We 
have  been  liberated  from  the  master  whom  we  now 
hate,  though  he  endeavors  to  reduce  us  to  servitude 
again.  But  there  is  no  more  any  condemnation  to 
them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus. 

V.  3.  F'or,  What  I  have  said  in  verse  2  is  true, 
/or  what  the  law  could  not  do,  etc.     Paul  here  uses 


Chapter  VIIL  221 


V.  3 : — For  what  the  law  could  not  do^  in  that  it  was  weak 
through  the  flesh,  God  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of 
sinful  flesh,  and  for  sin,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh : 

the  word  "law"  in  the  sense  of  the  Mosaic  law  con- 
sidered as  a  rule  of  action  whereby  to  obtain  salva- 
tion. This  "law"  was  unable  to  free  us  from  that 
other  law,  called  the  "law"  of  sin  and  death.  One 
rule  of  action  of  course  has  no  power  to  free  us  from 
another  rule  of  action  to  which  we  have  become  ac- 
customed ;  and  in  this  case  especially  was  the  Mosaic 
law,  or  the  law  written  only  on  the  heart,  powerless 
to  accomplish  our  deliverance;  for  it  was  weak 
through  the  flesh — that  is,  we  naturally  loved  the  old 
law  or  rule  of  sin  too  well.  This  inability  of  the 
Mosaic  or  any  other  divine  law  to  accomplish  our  sal- 
vation Paul  has  already  discussed  at  length  in  chapter 
vii.  He  mentions  it  again  here  in  order  to  set  forth 
the  more  prominently  the  only  way  whereby  it  could 
be  accomplished. 

What  the  law  could  not  do.  What  was  it 
that  the  law  could  not  do  ?  The  answer  is,  It  could 
not  condemn  or  crush  sin  in  the  flesh,  and  hence 
effect  our  deliverance  therefrom,  in  order  that  the 
righteousness  of  God  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  etc. 

God  sending  his  own  Son,  The  word  "  send- 
ing" is  in  the  Greek  an  aorist  participle,  and  denotes 
that  the  act  of  sending  and  the  act  of  condemning 
were  simultaneous — that  is,  so  closely  identified  as  to 
be  practically  one  and  the  same  act.  At  the  very 
moment  the  Son  of  God  took  upon  himself  human 
flesh  and  human  nature  was  sin  condemned.  The 
law  had  denounced,  forbidden,  fulminated  against 
sin ;  had  pronounced  condemnation  upon  it  again  and 


^22         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

again ;  but  in  vain.  Sin  held  his  ground.  But  in  the 
human  flesh  and  human  nature  of  the  Son  of  God 
there  is  one  instance  in  which  sin  had  no  throne,  no 
dominion  whatever.  And  this  sinless  Son  of  God  in 
human  flesh  and  nature  was  an  ever-living  and  effect- 
ive rebuke  of  sin,  and  also  an  abiding  illustration  of 
what  the  human  would  be  if  the  sin  were  not  in 
it.  The  life  of  every  pure  and  good  man  is,  in  its  de- 
g^ree,  a  more  effective  condemnation  of  sin  than  is  the 
law.  The  sinful  can  withstand  the  law,  but  it  can  not 
withstand  the  sinless.  Hence,  those  whose  deeds  are 
evil  love  darkness  rather  than  light.  The  demons 
beseech  Christ  to  leave  them.  **  What  have  we  to  do 
with  thee,  thou  Holy  One?"  They  feel  condemned 
in  his  presence.  "  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful 
man,  O  Lord." 

In  the  likeness  of  sinful  Besb,  Christ's  hu- 
man flesh  and  human  nature  were  /ike  man's,  only  his 
had  no  sin  in  them,  and  nothing  to  which  sin  could 
successfully  address  itself.  "  The  Prince  of  this  world 
hath  nothing  in  me."  But  man's  nature  is  corrupt  to 
begin  with,  and  his  fleshly  appetites  and  passions  are 
sin's  best  instruments.  But  were  not  the  flesh  and 
nature  of  the  first  Adam  sinless?  Yes;  and  the  first 
Adam  lacked  no  weapon  in  his  combat  with  sin  which 
the  second  had. 

F'or  sin.  This  means  that  the  sending  of  God's  Son 
was  occasioned  by  sin. 

In  using  the  phrase  "  sinful  flesh,"  we  must  hear  in 
mind  that  the  flesh  is  intrinsically  neither  sinful  nor 
sinless.  God  made  the  flesh  with  all  its  original  ap- 
petites and  passions,  and  apart  from  the  personal  soul 
or  spirit  which  operates  through  it,  it  can  be  neither 
sinful  nor  sinless,  or  possess  any  moral  character. 


Chapter  VIII.  223 


V.  4: — That  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled 
in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit. 

V.  4.  That   the  righteousness  of  the  law, 

"That"  here  means  "in  order  that,"  and  not  "so 
that;"  it  denotes  a  purpose  and  not  a  mere  result. 
The  "  righteousness  of  the  law  "  is  that  righteousness 
which  the  law  demands.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  the  law  of  God  requires  one  kind  or  degree  of 
righteousness  and  the  gospel  of  God  another.  There 
is  no  sort  of  antagonism  between  God's  law  and  God's 
gospel.  The  trouble  with  the  law  is  that  it  can  not 
enforce  in  man  its  own  demands — and  the  reason  here 
assigned  is,  that  it  is  "weak  through  the  flesh;  "  our 
sinful  nature  is  stronger  in  us  than  God's  law.  The 
excellency  of  the  gospel  is,  that  it  changes  the  evil 
nature  and  makes  it  the  law's  ally.  The  excellency 
of  the  law  (the  Mosaic  moral  law,  or  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  for  instance)  consists  in  the  fact  that  it 
makes  known  to  us  what  sort  of  righteousness  God 
requires.  The  purpose  which  God  had  in  view  in 
sending  his  Son  and  condemning  sin  in  the  flesh  was 
that  the  righteousness  which  God  requires  might  be 
accomplished  in  us.  And  it  actually  is.  That  was 
the  purpose  of  the  plan  of  salvation  as  a  whole,  and 
hence  was  the  ultimate  purpose  or  end  to  which  every 
detail  of  that  plan  looked.  When  it  is  accomplished 
in  the  case  of  any  individual  man  he  is  both  saved 
and  safe;  though  he  does  not  reach  the  consumma- 
tion of  his  salvation  until  he  attains  to  what  Paul,  in 
verse  30,  calls  glorification,  on  which  see  note.  Who 
walk  not,  etc.     See  on  verse  i. 

V.  5.  For.    What  is  the  force  here  of  this  many- 


224         '^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  5  : — For  they  that  are  after  the  Jlesh  do  mind  the  things 
of  the  flesh  ;  but  they  that  are  after  the  Spirit ^  the  things  of 
the  Spirit. 

V.  6 : — For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death  ;  but  to  be  spirit- 
ually minded  is  life  and  peace. 

tongued  little  word  "  for  ? "  Does  it  mean  that  the 
fact  stated  in  this  verse  is  the  reason  or  ground  of 
that  stated  in  the  former— that  is,  that  the  former  is 
true  ^^^a«^<?  the  latter  is  true?  This  seems  to  be  its 
force,  and  hence  we  may  paraphrase  thus  :  That  the 
righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who 
walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit ;  and  the 
reason  why  we  walk  not  after  the  flesh  is,  we  are  not 
in  the  fleshly  or  natural  state,  and  the  reason  why  we 
do  walk  after  the  Spirit  is,  we  are  in  the  spiritual 
state ;  for  those  who  are  "  after  the  flesh  " — that  is, 
who  are  in  the  fleshly  or  unregenerate  state,  do  mind 
or  pursue  those  things  which  gratify  such  a  state; 
whereas  those  who  are  according  to  the  Spirit,  those 
who  are  in  the  regenerate  state,  do  pursue  those 
things  which  gratify  such  a  state.  This  regenerate 
state  is  the  characteristic  of  those  in  whom  has  been 
actually  accomplished,  or  fulfilled,  the  *'  righteousness 
of  the  law." 

V.  6.  "For,  This  "  for  "  also  means  because,  as  in 
the  last  verse ;  it  is  explanatory.  Why  do  "  they  that 
are  after  the  flesh,"  or  unregenerate,  aspire  after  the 
things  of  the  flesh  ?  Because  to  be  unregenerate,  or 
carnally  minded,  naturally  tends  to  death — that  is, 
more  and  more  to  separation  from  God.  The  mind 
of  the  flesh,  or  the  unregenerate  mind,  is  only  follow- 
ing the  bent  of  its  nature  in  seeking  its  gratification 
along  the  path  that  leads  farther  and  farther  from 


Chapter  VIII. 


225 


V.  7  : — Because  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God :  for 
it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be. 


God.     And  that  is  the  reason  why  it  does  so.     The 
compulsion  is  from  within. 

But  why  do  "  they  that  are  after  the  Spirit "  (the  re- 
generate) aspire  after  the  things  of  the  Spirit  ?  Because 
those  who  are  spiritually  minded  are  only  following  the 
bent  of  their  regenerate  nature  in  seeking  gratification 
along  a  path  which  leads  to  life  and  peace — nearer  and 
nearer  to  God.  The  compulsion  is  again  from  within. 
What  is  meant  here  by  peace?  It  does  not  mean 
reconciliation  with  God,  for  that  the  regenerate  one, 
or  spiritually  minded,  already  has.  It  means  the  "  in- 
ward feeling  of  tranquillity,"  the  "holy  calm  breathed 
over  the  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit  pouring  forth  God's 
love  upon  the  heart."  \ 

V.  7.  Because  the  carnal  mind.  The  mind  of 
the  flesh.  The  meaning  is  the  same  as  in  verses  5  and 
6.  Is  enmity  against  God,  The  characteristic 
and  inalienable  feature  of  the  aspirations  of  the  flesh 
is  hostility  to  God.  The  only  thing  that  the  ** flesh" 
knows  or  regards  is  its  own  gratification,  and  in  this 
God  opposes  it;  hence  its  necessary  hostility  to  God. 
Because  of  this  it  proceeds  along  its  path  to  death,  as 
stated  in  verse  6. 

For  it  is  not  subject y  etc.  This  second  clause 
of  the  verse  is  the  ground  or  reason  of  the  statement 
made  in  the  first.  What  is  called  the  mind  of  the 
flesh,  or  the  carnal  mind,  is  hostile  to  God  because 
God,  or  God's  law,  is  hostile  to  it ;  and  it  can  no  more 
change  its  nature  than  God  can  change  his  nature,  or 
his  law.  Hence,  there  is  no  possible  way  whereby  it 
15 


926         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  8 : — So  then  they  that  are  in  the  flesh  can  not  please  God. 

can  ever  become  subject  to,  or  in  harmony  with,  God's 
law.  When  the  person  becomes  regenerated  his 
"carnal  mind"  becomes  separated  from  himself,  and 
we  have  the  duality,  the  two  "  I's,"  the  "  I,"  and  the 
"yet  not  I  "  of  chapter  vii.  14-25;  one  of  these,  the 
"carnal  mind,"  maintains  its  hostility  inevitably  and 
persistently  so  long  as  it  has  any  existence. 

V.  8.  So  then.  From  the  preceding  statement  it 
follows  that,  etc.  The  word  which  Paul  wrote,  and 
which  is  here  rendered  "so  then,"  is  the  little  particle 
de  which  ordinarily  means  but.  If  it  be  so  rendered 
here  the  meaning  becomes  :  For  it  is  not  subject  to  the 
law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be ;  but  (on  the  con- 
trary) it  can  not  please  God.  The  Revised  Version, 
Godet,  Gifford,  Ellicott,  Bengel,  Wicliff,  Tyndale, 
etc.,  prefer  to  render  it  "and:"  The  carnal  mind  is 
not  subject  to  the  law  of  God  .  .  .  and  they  that 
are  in  the  flesh  can  not  please  God.  This  is  the  sim- 
plest view  to  take  of  the  word,  but  the  sense  conveyed 
is  not  materially  difi"erent  from  that  of  the  rendering 
of  the  Authorized  Version,  with  which  rendering 
agree  Beza,  Calvin,  Flatt,  Koppe,  and  the  Geneva 
Version  of  1557. 

Can  not  please  God.  Because  the  controlling 
motive  or  principle  of  the  unrenewed  mind  is  the  de- 
sire to  please  itself  and  not  God ;  and  as  it  is  the  mo- 
tive or  principle  from  which  our  actions  proceed  that 
gives  them  moral  character,  of  course  those  which 
proceed  from  a  wrong  principle,  or  character  in  our- 
selves can  not  render  us  pleasing  to  God.  They  may 
be  right  in  themselves,  but  they  are  not  done  as  right. 


Chapter  VIII.  227 

V.  9  '.—But  ye  are  not  in  the  Jiesh,  but  in  the  Spirit,  if  so 
be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you.  Now  if  any  man 
have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  nothing  that  one  does  to  me  in 
his  relation  of  enemy  to  me  can  render  him  pleasing 
to  me ;  and  those  who  are  in  the  flesh,  as  already  ex- 
plained, stand,  and  can  stand,  only  in  a  relation  of 
enmity  to  God.  The  moment  this  relation  ceases, 
that  moment  they  cease  to  be  ''  in  the  flesh." 

V.  9.  'But  ye.  The  ye  is  emphatic.  But  as  for 
you,  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh.  But  in  the  Spirit. 
Renewed,  regenerated.  The  ruling  principle  of  life 
is  essentially  different  from  that  of  those  who  are  in 
the  flesh,  or  unrenewed,  if  so  be,  provided  that,  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you.  The  indwelling  must  be 
a  permanent  fact,  and  not  a  mere  spasmodic  and  oc- 
casional outburst  of  enthusiasm.  It  is  characteristic 
of  St.  Paul  that  he  first  expresses  his  strong  and  lov- 
ing confidence  in  his  readers  in  the  absolute  assertion,'' 
Ye  are  not  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit, 
"  and  then  remembering  [as  it  were]  that  so  unqualified 
a  statement  could  not  be  safely  applied  to  all,  he  adds 
by  way  of  caution,  and  stimulus  to  self-examination, 
the  condition  upon  which  his  statement  concerning 
them  necessarily  depends."  (Giffbrd.)  And  this  con- 
dition here  is,  If  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell  in 
you. 

Have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  The  Spirit 
of  God  is  in  this  clause  called  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
which  is  a  proof  of  the  divinity  of  Christ.  The  Spirit 
of  God,  or  the  spirit  of  Christ,  dwells  in  the  renewed 
heart  as  the  Holy  Spirit.     In  this  indwelling  consists 


228  The  Epistlk  to  the  Romans. 


V.  lo  '.—And  if  Christ  be  in  you,  the  body  is  dead  because 
of  sin  ;  but  the  Spirit  is  life  because  of  righteousness. 

the  believer's  vital  union  with  Christ,  without  which 
he  is  but  a  dead  branch. 

V.  lo.  And  if  Christ  he  in  you.    He  who  im 

verse  9  was  called  "the  Spirit  of  God"  and  "the 
spirit  of  Christ,"  is  here  called  Christ  himself.  Com- 
pare Eph.  iii.  16,  17.  Christ,  in  speaking  to  his  dis- 
ciples, said:  "And  if  I  go  .  .  .  I  will  come  again." 
See  John  xiv.  3,  16,  17,  18.  He  dwells  in  the  believer 
in  the  person  of  the  Spirit,  who  is  that  other  Para- 
clete. 

The  body  is  dead.  Physical  death.  The  idea 
is:  If  Christ  be  in  you  in  the  manner  described, 
though  the  body  is  still  subject  to  physical  death,  and 
will  actually  die,  because  of  sin,  yet  the  Spirit  is  life, 
etc.  The  effect  upon  the  human  race  of  Christ's  death 
and  resurrection  was  not  intended  to  be  the  abolition 
of  physical  death  as  a  racial  fact,  though  it  did  render 
possible  the  translation  of  an  Enoch  or  an  Elijah  (for 
his  death  and  resurrection  were  already  certainties  in 
the  mind  of  God,  even  from  the  beginning).  Death, 
as  a  racial  fact,  will  continue  until  the  final  consum- 
mation of  Christ's  work,  when  death  itself  shall  be 
abolished,     i  Cor.  xv.  26. 

Because  of  sin.  Physical  death  as  a  racial  fact 
exists  as  a  fact  because  of  sin,  the  first  sinner's  sin 
being  the  starting  point  and  cause  of  all.  Apart  from 
sin,  or  prior  to  the  first  sin,  the  human  body  was  ca- 
pable of  dying,  and  in  this  sense  we  may  say  it  was 
mortal ;  it  was  also  capable  of  not  dying,  and  in  this 
sense  we  may  say  it  was  immortal.     Sin  caused  it  to 


Chapter  VIII.  229 


lose  the  capability  of  not  dying,  except  where  the 
omnipotent  God  intervenes  to  prevent,  as  in  the  case 
of  Enoch  and  Elijah.  And  hence  it  amounts  to  noth- 
ing to  say  that,  If  I  should  violate  no  physical  law  I 
would  not  die ;  for,  aside  from  any  other  considera- 
tion, the  fact  of  sin  makes  it  certain  that  I  will  violate 
physical  laws.  I  was  born  with  the  seeds  of  death  in 
me,  for  my  parents  and  remoter  ancestors  violated 
them  before  me.  I  may  or  may  not  be  able  to  name 
any  specific  sin  that  caused  this  or  that  man's  blind- 
ness or  death ;  there  may  be  none  to  name ;  and  yet 
sin,  the  great  fact  of  sin,  is  the  cause  of  both  blind- 
ness and  death,  whether  it  be  my  sin,  in  the  sense  of 
my  act  or  not.  The  sins  of  others  caused  the  sinless 
Christ  to  suffer  unto  death,  for  if  there  had  been  no 
sin  he  would  not  and  could  not  have  suffered. 

The  spirit  is  life.  The  word  Spirit  is  here 
printed  in  the  present  copies  of  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion, with  a  capital  S,  indicating  that  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  is  the  Holy  Spirit.  Originally,  however,  it  was 
not  so  printed  in  the  Authorized  Version.  The  Re- 
vised Version  and  the  Greek  printed  editions  have  a 
small  letter.  The  meaning  is  that  although  the  body 
is  dead,  or  doomed  to  die,  because  of  sin,  the  spirit, 
or  soul,  or  that  part  which  constitutes  one  a  responsi- 
ble moral  agent,  is  alive.  Christ  says  "  I  am  the  life," 
and  his  life  comes  into  the  soul  of  the  believer  and 
becomes  its  very  life,  or  rather  causing  it  to  become 
life  itself,  whereas  it  was  once  dead  in  sin. 

Because  of  righteousness.  What  does  the 
word  righteousness  here  mean  ?  Does  it  mean  ri^/i^~ 
ness,  or  the  state  of  being  rightened,  or  holiness  ?  It 
is  the  same  word  which  is  often  elsewhere  rendered 
justification ;  and  this  meaning  is  the  preferable  one 


230  The  Bpistlk  to  the  Romans. 


V.  II  -.—But  if  the  Spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from 
the  dead  dwell  in  you,  he  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead 
shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  his  Spirit  that  dwell- 
eth  in  you. 


here,  for  we  can  hardly  say  that  the  spirit  is  life 
because  of  its  holiness  or  righteousness.  Its  life  con- 
sists in  its  righteousness,  and  is  not  because  of  it.  The 
spirit  is  life  because  of  its  righteousness  in  the  sense 
of  justification— God's  plan  of  justification,  which  in 
i.  17  is  called  "God's  righteousness."  It  is  through 
this  plan  that  life  is  communicated  to  the  soul,  and 
quickens  man  from  his  spiritual  death.  If  it  had  not 
been  for  this  plan  the  soul  could  not  have  been  so 
quickened. 

V.  II.  But  if,  Paul  here  informs  his  readers  that 
the  body  also,  though  now  "  dead,"  shall  also  share  in 
this  quickening  work  of  the  spirit.  The  spirit  of 
him  that  raised,  etc.  Why  does  he  not  say  the 
Spirit  of  God  ?  Because  he  wishes  to  revert  to  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  and  thus  furnish  a  basis  for  the 
faith  of  his  readers  in  the  quickening  of  their  mortal 
bodies.  The  same  spirit  that  did  the  one  shall  do  the 
other  provided  that  spirit  also  dwell  in  us. 

Why  does  Paul  in  the  first  clause  say  raised  up 
Jesus  and  in  the  next  raised  up  Christ  f  Answer : 
Jesus  was  his  name,  as  a  mere  person  ;  Christ  was  his 
official  name,  his  name  as  denoting  that  he  stands  in 
a  certain  relation  to  us ;  and  this  relation  is  such  as 
to  make  his  resurrection  a  pledge  of  our  resurrection, 
whereas  the  resurrection  oi  Jesus  considered  merely 
as  a  person  was  not.  The  resurrection  of  Jesus 
proves  only  that  God  can  raise  us  up,  the  resurrection 
of  Christ  proves  that  he  will  do  it.     I  can  do  a  certain 


Chapter  VIII.  231 


thing  for  a  given  person,  but  if  that  given  person  is 
my  son  or  my  brother  I  not  only  can  but  will. 
Shall    quicken    your   mortal    bodies.      He 

"raised"  the  body  of  Jesus;  he  shall  "quicken" 
ours.  There  is  no  difference  in  the  sense;  he  uses 
the  word  quicken  because  it  is  suggested  by  and  corre- 
sponds to  the  word  "  dead  "  as  applied  to  the  body  in 
verse  10  and  to  the  word  "mortal"  here.  Even  the 
bodies  of  those  human  beings  who  shall  be  alive  at 
the  end  of  the  world,  and  which  therefore  shall  never 
actually  die,  and  hence  can  not  be  raised,  even  they 
shall  be  quicke7ied—'C^^\.  is,  they  shall  be  deprived  of 
that  mortality,  that  something  which  dooms  them  to 
die ;  and  thus  the  power  and  benefit  on  the  body,  of 
the  indwelling  Spirit  of  God  is  not  restricted  to  those 
who  shall  actually  die.  The  very  principle  itself  of 
death  is  removed,     (i  Cor.  xv.  43,  44.) 

By  bis  spirit.  Through  his  spirit— that  is,  the 
spirit  dwelling  in  the  believer  is  the  cause  or  agent 
that  accomplishes  the  quickening.  The  indwelling 
of  the  Spirit  is  also  the  condition  of  the  quickening, 
though  according  to  the  best  Greek  text  that  thought  is 
not  here  expressed.  The  quickening  of  the  "  mortal 
body  "  is  regarded  by  Calvin  and  others  as  denoting 
its  deliverance  from  sin  and  misery,  the  ennobling  of 
the  whole  sensuous  nature  and  so  perfecting  it  even 
before  the  believer  dies.  While  the  believer's  body 
is  undoubtedly  affected  thus,  more  or  less,  I  do  not  con- 
ceive this  to  be  the  main  thought  of  this  verse.  The 
best  commentators,  however,  are  divided.  Macknight 
says :  "  Will  make  even  your  mortal  bodies  to  perform 
works  of  righteousness."  Barnes  says :  "  The  entire 
man,  including  the  corrupt  body,  shall  be  made  alive 
in  the  service  of  God."     Hodge  disagrees  with  Calvin 


232  The  EpistIvIC  to  the  Romans. 

V.  12 : — Therefore^  brethren^  we  are  debtor s^  not  to  the  Jieshy 
to  live  after  the  flesh. 

V.  13  : — For  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall  die:  but  if 
ye  through  the  Spirit  do  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye 
shall  live. 


and  refers  to  2  Cor.  iv.  14,  as  teaching  what  he  con- 
ceives to  be  the  doctrine  of  this  passage.  Stuart  and 
Philippi  agree  with  Calvin,  as  does  also  Abbott. 
Meyer,  Godet,  Lange,  and  others  take  the  other  view. 
The  passage  seems  to  teach  that  the  fact  that  the  be- 
liever's body  as  the  vessel  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
earnest  of  the  resurrection  of  the  believer's  body. 
(2  Cor.  V.  5.) 

Paul  does  not  tell  us  any  thing  here,  or  in  Corin- 
thians, of  what  shall  be  the  future  of  the  bodies  of 
unbelievers ;  his  object  here  is  simply  to  trace  the 
process  of  that  salvation,  on  soul  and  body,  which  he 
is  expounding.  He  therefore  here  restricts  himself  to 
the  future  of  the  believer's  body,  having  already 
shown  what  are  the  legitimate  effects  of  this  salvation 
on  the  present  of  the  believer's  body.  See  chapter 
vi.  II,  12,  etc.,  a  subject  to  which  he  reverts  again  in 
verse  12,  13. 

V.  12.  Therefore,  brethren.  Such  honor  being 
put  upon  us,  and  such  help  being  vouchsafed  to  us, 
by  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit,  it  devolves  upon  us 
to  live  how?  According  to  the  inclination  of  the 
corrupt  nature?    No,  for  (v.  13). 

V.  13.  For  if  ye  live  after  the  ftesh  ye  shall 
die.  This  is  the  reason  for  the  foregoing  statement. 
Not  merely  he  shall,  but  he  must  die.  If  a  man  (the 
unregenerate  man)  thinks  he  is  under  a  sort  of  obli- 


Chapter  VIII.  233 


gation  to  gratify  what  is  here  called  "  the  flesh  " — a 
term  which  we  have  already  repeatedly  explained — 
the  only  future  which  can  possibly  await  him  is  not 
one  of  a  quickened  mortal  body  such  as  was  men- 
tioned in  verse  11,  but  of  the  very  opposite.  And  if 
it  were  possible  for  the  regenerate  to  place  the 
emphasis  of  his  life  on  eating  and  drinking  and  other- 
wise gratifying  his  lower  and  corrupt  nature,  neither 
could  he  escape  the  same  future.  But  he,  however, 
does  not  recognize  himself  as  under  any  sort  of  obli- 
gation to  thus  gratify  the  flesh,  but  he  does  recognize 
himself  as  under  a  debt  or  obligation  to  the  Spirit 
to  live  according  to  the  Spirit.  And  by  thus  living 
he  mortifies,  or  causes  death,  not  to  himself,  but  to 
the  flesh;  he  himself  shall  live,  and  his  body  also 
shall  be  quickened. 

The  deeds  of  the  body;  or  works  of  the  body. 
But  what  is  the  difference  between  the  deeds  of  the 
body  (soma)  and  the  deeds  of  the  flesh  (sarx)  which 
Paul  has  also  mentioned.  (Gal.  v.  19  and,  in  sub- 
stance, often  elsewhere.)  The  deeds  of  the  body  are 
those  which  are  regarded  simply  as  originating  in  the 
body ;  as,  the  body  hungers,  the  body  thirsts,  has  vari- 
ous appetites,  passions,  etc.,  with  which  it  is  endowed 
by  the  Creator,  and  which  are  therefore  not  in  them- 
selves sinful.  If  the  soul,  however,  should  co-operate 
with  these,  and  yield  them  up  to  their  full  gratifica- 
tion, they  would  cease  to  be  mere  deeds  of  the  body 
and  become  deeds  or  works  of  the  flesh ;  and  the  per- 
son who  does  this  is  said  to  walk  or  live  after  the  flesh. 
To  mortify  these  "deeds"  of  the  body  is  to  bring 
them  within  the  control  of  our  regenerate  nature  by 
means  of  the  Spirit  dwelling  in  us.  By  so  doing  the 
"flesh,"  or  corrupt  nature,  is  more  and  more  driven 


234  I'he  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  14: — For  as  many  as  are  led  by  tke  Spirit  of  God,  they 
are  the  sons  of  God. 

out,  or  restricted  in  its  territor}^,  so  to  speak;  and 
thus  the  body  instead  of  becoming  with  increasing 
intensity  the  slave  of  the  "flesh"  becomes  increas- 
ingly the  slave  of  the  renewed  spirit.  Its  appetites  or 
lusts  are  suppressed  or  crushed  before  they  develop 
into  sinfulness.  And  this  person  goes  on  to  that 
**life"  which  the  Apostle  has  already  described  as 
being  the  destiny  of  the  one  "who  lives  after  the 
Spirit." 

V.  14.  JF^or.  Paul  here  assigns  the  reason  why 
those  who,  through  the  Spirit  mortify  the  deeds  of 
the  body,  shall  live.  Those  who  do  this  are,  in  doing 
it,  moved  and  guided  by  the  Spirit,  and  those  who  are 
thus  moved  and  guided  are  the  sons  of  God,  otherwise 
they  would  not  thus  yield  themselves  to  his  Spirit. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  son  of  God,  one 
who  is  dear  to  God,  as  not  living.  They  derive  their 
life  from  him.  While,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  being 
"led  by  the  Spirit,"  is  both  a  cause  of  sonship  and  a 
proof  of  sonship.  If,  however,  the  idea  of  sonship 
as  here  presented  is  that  of  adoption  into  the  family 
of  God,  as  distinguished  from  our  justification  as 
guilty  and  condemned  sinners,  it  would  seem  that  the 
Apostle  refers  to  the  leading  of  the  Spirit  as  the  proof 
rather  than  as  the  cmise  of  sonship.  So  far,  therefore, 
as  this  verse  is  concerned,  instead  of  saying:  Why 
does  God  lead  us  by  his  Spirit?  Answer:  Because  we 
are  his  sons — we  should  rather  say :  How  do  we  know,, 
or  what  proof  have  we  that  we  are  the  sons  of  God? 
Answer :  The  fact  that  we  are  led  by  his  Spirit  is  the 


Chapter  VIII.  235 


V.  15  : — For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again 
to  fear  ;  but  ye  have  received  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby 
we  cry  J  Abba,  Father. 

V.  16: — The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit^ 
that  we  are  the  children  of  God: 

proof.  Where  this  proof  is  wanting  the  essential  proof 
is  wanting.  The  subject  of  sonship,  or  adoption,  is 
presented  in  various  aspects  in  the  New  Testament. 

V.  15.  ¥or  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit 
of  bondage ,  etc.  The  "spirit  of  bondage"  means 
the  low,  cringing,  fearing  spirit  that  characterizes 
bondmen.  The  motive  or  spirit  which  causes  them 
to  serve  is  fear  of  the  master,  and  nothing  higher  or 
purer  or  more  joyous.  But  this  was  not  the  kind  of 
spirit  which  "ye  received"  when  ^^e  were  freed  from 
condemnation  as  sinners,  regenerated,  and  adopted 
into  the  family  of  God.  But  the  spirit  which  ye 
received  was  t/ie  Spirit  of  adoption — the  spirit  or  dis- 
position which  characterizes  sons  and  not  bondmen, 
and  who  address  God  as  a  loving  Father,  and  not  as  a 
tyrannical  Master.  The  ^ox^l  abba  is  the  Jewish  or 
Aramaic  word  meaning  father.  Paul  translated  it 
into  Greek  (pater)  for  his  Greek  readers,  and  from 
this  we  have  it  translated  into  English. 

V.  16.  The  Spirit  itself.  The  Spirit  of  God,  or 
Holy  Spirit.  The  word  Spirit  in  the  Greek  {p7ieumd) 
is  in  the  neuter  gender,  and  hence  the  neuter  pronoun 
itself  is  here  used.  Using  the  word  otherwise  than 
from  the  stand-point  of  the  Greek  gender,  we  should 
say  "  the  Spirit  Himself."  The  testimony  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  concurs  with  that  of  our  own  consciousness 
that  we  are  the  children  of  God.     The  heart  in  filial 


236  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  IT'.— And  if  children,  then  heirs;  heirs  of  God,  and  joint 
heirs  with  Christ ;  if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him,  that  we 
may  be  also  glorified  together. 

love  cries,  Father,  thou  art  my  Father,  and  the  Father 
responds,  My  child,  yes,  thou  art  my  child.  This  is 
the  Spirit  bearing  testimony  with  spirit.  Observe  the 
three  proofs  of  sonship :  i.  Led  by  the  Spirit  (verse 
14).  2.  The  disposition  or  feeling  of  filial  love,  called 
*' the  spirit  of  adoption"  (verse  15).  3.  The  testimony 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  (verse  16),  which  comes  to  us  in 
the  form  of  the  inward  comfort  w^hich  we  experience, 
the  incitements  to  prayer  which  he  awakens  within 
us,  the  promptings  to  works  of  love,  the  repugnance 
to  sin,  which  the  Christian  has,  etc. 

The  Apostle,  in  verse  14,  uses  the  expression  ''sons 
of  God;  "  here  he  says  "  children  of  God."  The  for- 
mer, among  the  Jews,  was  a  title  of  honor  and  privi- 
lege, the  latter  an  expression  of  endearment,  denoting 
that  the  "sons"  were  not  only  "sons,"  but  that  they 
were  natural  or  dear  sons. 

V.  17.  If  children,  then  heirs.  Were  all  chil- 
dren heirs  according  to  the  Roman  law?  Yes,  sons 
and  daughters,  and  even  adopted  children,  shared 
equally  in  the  inheritance.  But  not  so  in  the  Jewish 
law,  daughters  being  excluded  except  in  the  event 
there  were  no  sons.  Paul  here  announces  the  law  of 
God's  Fatherhood  and  of  Christ's  Brotherhood.  All 
the  children  share  alike  in  the  inheritance  which 
Christ  has  reclaimed.  In  what  does  this  inheritance 
consist?  The  only  one  word  that  can  express  it  is 
"Himself" — God  himself  (i  Cor.  xv.  28).  How  then 
can  we  speak  of  this  inheritance  as  being  reclaimed 


Chapter  VIII.  237 


V.  18:— For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present 
time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  which  shall 
be  revealed  in  us. 


or  procured  by  Christ  for  all  believers?  Because  of 
the  fact  that  by  reason  of  what  Christ  is,  what  he  did, 
what  he  still  does  — in  short,  through  Christ  and 
through  him  alone,  can  God  ever  impart  himself  to 
the  believer. 

If  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him.  With  Christ. 
Joint  suffering  with  Christ  is  the  condition  of  joint 
heirship  with  Christ.  Paul  often  speaks  of  the  fellow- 
ship of  believers  with  Christ  in  his  sufferings.  (See 
I  Thes.  iii.  3;  2  Cor.  i.  5;  Col.  i.  24;  2  Tim.  i.  8,  etc. 
See  also  i  Peter  iv.  13,  and  other  references.)  Nothing 
so  unites  two  or  more  persons  as  a  common  suffering 
in  a  common  cause.  But  whether  or  not  any  given 
person  be  called  in  reality  to  suffer  for  Christ's  sake, 
or  in  Christ's  cause,  he  must  share  ideally  those  suffer- 
ings which  Christ  bore  for  his  sake,  if  he  would  share 
with  Christ  the  inheritance  of  glory.  As  he  bore  our 
cross,  so  we  must  bear  his;  if  we  would  share  his 
crown  of  glory  we  must  share  his  crown  of  thorns. 
And  it  is  possible  to  do  this  without  being  called  to 
actual  objective  or  outside  suffering  for  the  sake  of 
Christ's  cause.  Unless  the  suffering  of  one  soul  be- 
comes in  a  certain  true  sense  the  suffering  of  the 
other,  the  two  souls  are  not  truly  united. 

V.  18.  For  I  reckon,  I  calculate,  I  conclude, 
after  thinking  about  it.  By  the  mention  of  suffering, 
of  which  he  had  had  the  severest  experiences  because 
of  his  union  with  Christ,  Paul  is  reminded  of  the 
future,  and  of  what  is  meant  by  being  glorified  with 


238         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V,  19 : — For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth 
for  the  manifestation  of  the  S07is  of  God. 

Christ.  As  compared  with  the  glories  which  shall  be 
revealed,  or  made  manifest  in  us  and  unto  us  in  that 
day  of  glorification,  he  says  that  the  present  suffer- 
ings are  not  worth  thinking  of,  and  Paul  knew  what 
it  was  to  suffer.  (2  Cor.  iv.  17.)  He  bore  in  his  body 
the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  they  were  marks  of 
suffering.     (Gal.  vi.  17.) 

V.  19.  jPor.  What  has  the  statement  in  this  verse 
to  do  with  that  in  the  preceding,  that  it  should  be 
linked  to  it  by  a  "for,"  or  because?  The  question 
has  been  variously  answered  :  (i)  According  to  Godet 
the  connection  is :  That  this  present  age  is  one  of 
suffering  is  evident  for  the  whole  creation,  etc.  (2) 
The  reference  according  to  this  and  the  following 
opinions  is  to  the  revelation  of  glory  in  and  unto  us, 
"the  sons  of  God."  This  revelation  is  certain,  for,  or 
as  is  evident  from  the  fact  that,  the  whole  creation 
waits  for  it ;  this  is  the  view  of  Meyer  and  many 
others.  (3)  That  this  revelation  will  be  grand  and 
glorious  is  evident  for  the  whole  creation,  etc.  Other 
views  have  been  held  by  various  commentators,  but 
the  third,  which  is  the  view  of  Hodge,  Alford,  and 
others,  seems  to  me  to  be  the  most  natural.  It  was 
the  grandeur  of  the  glorious  revelation  which  the 
Apostle  emphasized  in  the  preceding  verse,  and  not  its 
certainty,  futuritj^  or  reality,  though  all  these  ele- 
ments are  as  a  matter  of  fact  present  in  the  statement 
in  that  verse. 

]^arnest  expectation.  This  is  one  word  in  the 
Greek  (apokaradokia).     It  denotes  an  attitude  of  up- 


Chapter  VIII.  239 


lifted  head,  and  eye  intently  gazing  in  the  direction 
from  which  the  thing  expected  is  to  come.  The  word 
waiteth  for  implies  an  extension  of  the  hand  as  if  in 
the  act  of  receiving  that  which  is  not  as  yet  within 
reach. 

The  creature.  Does  this  mean  the  rational 
creature,  man?  Or  simply  Christians?  Or  are  those 
who  are  not  Christians  also  included?  Or  does  it 
mean  things  created  in  general,  including  the  irra- 
tional as  well  as  the  rational  ?  Or  does  it  mean  the 
irrational  creature  exclusively?  All  of  these  and 
several  other  questions  have  been  answered  in  the 
afi&rmative.  It  is  best,  however,  to  take  the  word  as 
denoting,  not  the  rational,  but  the  whole  irrational 
creation  animate  and  inanimate.  This  is  the  view  of 
Chrysostom,  Calvin,  Grotius,  Bloomfield,  Meyer, 
Godet,  Hodge,  and  most  commentators.  The  reasons 
for  preferring  this  view  will  appear  as  we  observe  the 
use  of  the  words  "creature"  and  "  creation  "  in  the 
following  verses.  Meanwhile  it  may  be  noticed  that 
Christians,  or  the  *'  sons  of  God,"  can  not  be  included 
here  within  the  scope  of  the  meaning  of  the  word 
"■  creature,"  for  they  are  the  ones  for  whose  manifes- 
tation or  complete  redemption  and  glorification  ''  the 
creature "  is  represented  as  longing.  All  nature, 
animate  and  inanimate,  is  represented  by  a  figure  of 
speech  as  being  on  the  outlook  and  waiting  with  out- 
stretched hands  for  man's  complete  redemption,  and 
all  nature  will  share  with  man  in  this  redemption. 

V.  20.  'For  the  creature.  The  same  as  in  pre- 
ceding verse — the  whole  irrational  creation  animate 
and  inanimate.  Was  made  subject.  Was  sub- 
jected.    Xo  vanity.    This  word  here  denotes  the 


240         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  20 : — For  the  creature  was  'made  subject  to  vanity,  not 
willingly ^  but  by  reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  the  same 
in  hope. 

frailty,  and  abnormal  condition  generally,  which  is 
due  to  corruption.  Nature  shares  the  ills  which  came 
of  human  sin.  All  things  were  cursed  on  man's 
account,  even  the  very  ground,  whether  the  curse  be- 
gan to  operate,  in  the  first  place,  through  "  natural 
law  "  or  through  supernatural.  Had  it  not  been  for 
human  negligence  and  other  sins,  even  the  roses  and 
other  flowers  of  Eden  would  never  have  degenerated 
into  wild  weeds,  and  briers,  and  thorns.  When  the 
race  on  earth  shall  itself  become  reclaimed  so  will  it 
reclaim  nature's  wastes  and  wild  growths.  If  the 
human  race  on  earth  shall  ever  again  be  wholly  sub- 
jected to  God,  nature  again  will  be  wholly  subjected 
to  it,  and  no  longer  to  *'  vanity."  There  shall  be  a 
new  earth. 

Not  willingly.  Nature  is  personified  in  these 
verses  and  is  here  represented  as  being  subjected  not, 
voluntarily,  or  of  its  own  will,  but  by  a  will  or  power 
outside  of  itself.  This  is  a  proof  that  the  "  creature," 
or  "  creation,"  does  not  mean  mankind,  for  man  be- 
came subject  to  "  vanity  "  of  his  own  will.  But  as 
man  was  not  made  so  at  the  outset,  so  neither  was 
nature.  Both  became  so;  the  one  voluntarily,  and 
the  other  because  fallen  man  can  live  only  in  a  fallen 
world.     As  the  former  will  rise,  so  will  the  latter. 

But  by  reason  of  him.  Of  whom  ?  Some  say 
Adam ;  others,  man ;  others,  the  tempter — that  is,  the 
devil.  The  majority,  though  not  all,  of  the  best 
commentators,  rightly  it  seems  to  me,  make  the 
words    refer    to    God.       Nature    was    subjected    to 


Chapter  VIII.  241 


V.  21  -.—Because  the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of 
the  children  of  God. 


"vanity"  by  God  as  the  moving  cause,  though  of 
course  man's  sin  or  corruption  may  be  regarded  as 
the  moral  cause.  (The  usual  meaning  of  the  Greek 
preposition  dia  with  the  accusative  is  on  account  of, 
but  according  to  Winer  and  other  New  Testament 
Greek  authorities,  it  may  also  be  rendered  by,  and 
this  is  cited  as  one  instance  among  the  number.  It 
makes  a  better  sense.) 

Who  subjected  the  same  in  hope.  Literally, 
on  the  hope.  The  subjection  of  nature  was  based,  or 
conditioned  on  a  hope  of  future  redemption.  But  who 
was  it  that  entertained  the  hope?  Was  it  God,  or 
"  the  creature  "  (nature)  ?  Evidently  nature,  creation, 
*'the  creature."  But  how  can  nature  be  said  to  have 
a  hope  ?  By  the  same  figure  of  speech  by  which  in 
the  first  part  it  is  said  to  be  in  an  attitude  of  expecta- 
tion and  waiting.  But  for  what  does  it  hope?  It 
hopes  for  deliverance,  as  stated  in  next  verse. 

V.  21.  Because.  Or  simply  t/zat.  While  the 
creature  was  by  the  will  of  God  subjected  to  frailty, 
decay,  barrenness,  degradation,  it  was  subjected  on 
the  condition  of  the  hope  that  it  should  share  with 
the  "sons  of  God"  deliverance  from  the  bondage  of 
corruption  at  the  time  of  the  restitution  of  all  things. 
God  did  not  form  the  earth  to  be  a  waste,  and  it  shall 
not  continue  to  be  so.  (See  Isaiah  xi. ;  Ixvi.  22; 
Psalm  cii.  26,  27;  2  Peter  iii.  13;  Rev.  xxi.  i.,  etc.) 

Nature,  or  creation,  is  represented  as  being 
'*  bound  "  to  corruption,  as  man  himself  became  the 
16 


342  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  22 : — For  we  know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and 
travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now. 

bond-servant  of  sin.  When  the  latter  is  freed  so  shall 
the  former  be.  The  curse,  or  in  other  words,  all  the 
inconveniences,  decays,  deaths,  discords,  etc.,  entailed 
by  sin  and  corruption  upon  man  and  nature,  shall  be 
removed  from  the  one  as  it  is  from  the  other ;  and  re- 
newed man  shall  live  in  a  renewed  world.  How 
unlike  this  one  we  are  not  told ;  it  may  be  as  unlike  it 
as  the  "  old  man  "  is  unlike  the  "  new;  "  as  our  pres- 
ent "  corruptible  "  body  shall  be  unlike  our  **  incor- 
ruptible." We  need  not  raise  the  question  whether 
nature  shall  be  thus  changed  absolutely  or  only  rela- 
tively— that  is,  only  seeming  to  be  changed  because  of 
the  changed  attitude  of  him  who  shall  inhabit  it.  In 
either  case  the  time  will  come  when  "  December  shall 
be  as  pleasant  as  May,"  and  there  shall  be  no  more 
sickness  and  sorrow  produced  either  by  physical  or 
moral  causes. 

V.  22.  IB^or  we  know.  This  verse  is  the  proof  of 
the  hoping  for  deliverance  on  the  part  of  the  creature 
as  stated  in  the .  preceding  verse.  Paul  says  "  we 
know."  We  know  whatf  TY^^  fact  that  nature  or 
creation  groans  and  travails,  so  great  is  its  pain. 
Creation  here  is  the  same  Greek  word  as  creature  in 
the  former  verses.  We  know  by  experience  and  ob- 
servation the/a^/  that  it  groans.  Pain,  discord,  death, 
etc.,  are  as  marked  a  characteristic  of  the  irrational 
creature  as  of  the  rational ;  and  the  correspondences 
of  these  features,  by  whatever  name  they  may  be 
called  are  as  visible  in  inanimate  nature  as  they  are 
in  the  animate.    The  fact  is  obvious  even  to  the  most 


Chapter  VIII.  243 


V.  23 : — And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also,  which  have 
the  firstfruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  zue  ourselves  groan  within 
ourselves,  waiting  for  th^  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of 
our  body. 

unlettered.  He  who  does  nothing  but  sow  and  reap 
and  till  the  soil  often  says  that  the  seasons  seem  to  be 
awry ;  and  earth,  air,  and  water  are  said  to  abound  in 
death-producing  germs.  Creature  destroys  creature. 
Nature  has  become  unnatural ;  but  it  is  orderly  in  its 
disorder.  But  in  the  day  of  deliverance  nature  will 
again  become  natural. 

Together.  Together  with  what?  Each  part 
"groans  and  travails"  together  with  other  parts. 
Until  now,  Paul  means  that  it  has  been  doing  so 
ever  since  sin  and  corruption  were  introduced  into 
the  world.  Had  he  been  writing  in  our  day  he  would 
still  have  said  "  until  now." 

V.  23.  And  not  only  they.  Not  only  the  various 
created  things,  which  we  call  nature  or  the  creation. 
Paul  here  expressly  distinguishes  between  what  he 
has  called  "the  creature,"  or  "creation,"  and  "we 
ourselves"  or  Christians,  the  sons  of  God.  Which 
have  the  £rst- fruits  of  the  spirit.  This  clause 
defines  who  is  meant  by  the  "  we  ourselves."  The 
Christian  has  only  a  partial  deliverance  from  sin  and 
its  awful  consequences  in  this  world  as  it  is.  He  can 
not  know  all  that  is  comprehended  in  the  words 
complete  redemption,  including  the  redemption 
of  the  body.  Now  we  have  only  the  first-fruits; 
after  a  while  we  shall  have  the  full  harvest.  Now  we 
have  the  Spirit  himself,  who  is  the  first-fruits ;  then 
we  shall  have  this  and  more.     Waiting  for  the 


244         ^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  24 : — For  we  are  saved  by  hope :  but  hope  that  is  seen  is 
not  hope:  for  what  a  man  seeth^  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for? 

adoption.  Not  for  our  adoption  as  sons  of  God,  for 
that  has  already  taken  place  (verse  15),  but  that  pub- 
lic adoption  of  us  which  shall  take  place  at  the  re- 
demption of  our  bodies,  when  all  angels  and  men 
shall  know  that  we  are  the  sons  of  God,  and  we  shall 
come  into  the  full  possession  and  enjoyment  of  our 
inheritance.  The  redemption  of  our  body.  The 
body  itself  shall  be  redeemed.  It  is  material,  corrupt- 
ible, mortal,  now ;  then  it  shall  be  spiritual,  incorrupt- 
ible, immortal — a  glorified  body,  (i  Cor.  xv.;  2  Cor.  v. 
4.)  The  "  child  of  God  "  now  is  also  a  "  child  of  the 
dust,"  but  then  he  shall  no  longer  be  a  child  of  the  dust. 

V.  24.  Por,  This  word  refers  to  the  groaning  and 
waiting  of  verse  23.  We  groan  .  .  .  waiting. 
Why?  For  or  because  we  are  saved  by  hope. 
The  Revised  Version  reads :  Bj/  hope  were  we  saved. 
This  expression  does  not  mean  that  hoping  on  our 
part  is  the  instrument  whereby  we  are  saved,  but 
that  it  is  rather  the  manner.  We  were  saved  in 
hope.  We  were  saved  so  far  by  being  placed  in 
such  relation  to  God  as  to  impel  us  to  hope;  and 
when  this  something  more  is  realized,  our  salvation 
will  be  fully  accomplished.  This  something  more  is, 
in  part,  the  redemption  of  our  body.  The  very  fact 
that  we  hope  implies  that  our  redemption  is  not  yet 
completed ;  all  that  salvation  means  even  to  the  body 
is  not  yet  realized ;  else  why  should  we  be  impelled 
to  hope.  And  the  Apostle  has  abundantly  shown  that 
it  is  a  hope  which  shall  not  be  disappointed,  or  make 
US  ashamed.     (See  verse  5,  etc.) 


Chapter  VIII.  245 


V.  25 : — But  if  we  hope  for  that  we  see  not,  then  do  we  with 
patience  wait  for  it. 

V.  26 : — Likewise  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmities  : 
for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  we  ought :  but 
the  Spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us  with  groanings 
which  can  not  be  uttered. 

V.  27 : — And  he  that  searcheth  the  hearts  knoweth  what  is 
the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  because  he  maketh  intercession  for  the 
saints  according  to  the  will  of  God. 

V.  25.  This  verse  continues  the  thought  of  the  pre- 
ceding. The  word  patience  here,  as  in  verse  5  and 
elsewhere,  implies  a  large  element  of  perseverance, 
continued  endurance.  He  who  continues  to  hope 
continues  to  endure  whatever  suffering  lies  between 
him  and  that  which  he  hopes  for.  He  who  despairs 
will  not  push  on  through  suffering. 

Vs.  26,  27.  Lfikewise,  In  verse  22  Paul  spoke  of 
the  groaning  of  the  whole  creation ;  in  verse  23,  the 
groaning  of  ourselves ;  while  in  this  verse  he  speaks 
of  the  groaning  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Helpeth  our  inHrmities.  By  helping  us  to 
pray.  Besides  the  natural  "  groanings  "  and  "  long- 
ings" of  the  regenerate  heart,  the  Holy  Spirit  him- 
self inspires  other  mute  and  wordless  prayers,  which 
God,  however,  can  hear  and  interpret.  Sometimes 
the  soul  may  experience  moments  of  fainting  under 
its  burden  of  suffering  and  longing.  The  Holy  Spirit 
prays,  groans,  maketh  intercession  in  that  soul,  though 
all  that  human  ear  may  hear  is,  "  O  Lord,  I  need 
something,  but  I  know  not  what  I  need."  God  hears 
and  knows  the  rest,  for  he  searches  the  heart  and  sees 
what  it  needs,  what  the  voiceless  groaning  means. 

According    to   the    will    of  God,      All    the 


246         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  28: — And  we  know  that  all  things  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called  accord- 
ing to  his  purpose. 

prayers,  longings,  groanings,  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
inspires  in  the  soul  and  in  behalf  of  the  soul  are  ac- 
cording to  or  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  God.  He 
dictates  them,  so  to  speak,  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  the  human  spirit ;  but  as  the  human 
spirit  knows  not  the  language  of  God,  they  reach  it 
and  go  back  to  God  only  as  unutterable  groans. 

V.  28.  And  we  know,  etc.  Paul  here  states  ad- 
ditional encouragement  to  the  Christian  in  the  midst 
of  his  trials.  All  things  work  together.  Work 
together  with  one  another  and  with  the  believers; 
they  all  work  to  the  same  end.  Not  only  God  and 
the  Spirit,  but  all  that  happens  or  falls  out  to  believers 
in  this  life.  All  things  are  so  adjusted  to  them  and 
they  are  so  adjusted  to  all  things,  that  the  outworking 
of  it  all  is  the  believer's  good.  To  them  that  love 
God.  Believers  are  here  so  called  because  only  those 
who  love  God  so  fall  in  with  the  current  of  **  all 
things,"  all  his  inruling  and  overruling  providences, 
as  to  cause  that  which  God  meant  for  good  actually  to 
produce  good.  Joseph  and  David,  for  example,  so 
fell  in  with  the  divine  current,  and  hence  their  severe 
afflictions  resulted  in  their  good.  Pharaoh  did  not, 
and  he  was  "  ground  to  powder." 

To  those  who  are  called  according  to  his 
purpose.  The  word  purpose  here  means  something 
fixed  beforehand.  Those  who  love  God,  and  those 
who  are  called  according  to  God's  pre-established  de- 
sign, are  the   same  persons.     Paul  has  no   thought 


Chapter  VIII.  247 


V.  29: — For  whom  he  did  foreknow^  he  also  did  predestinate 
to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the 
firstborn  among  many  brethren. 

whatever  of  saying  that  only  those  who  are  thus 
called  love  God.  But  those  who  love  God  are  always 
the  called  according  to  his  purpose.  And  the  fact 
that  they  are  thus  called  is  what  makes  all  things  work 
together  for  their  good ;  for  if  the  lovers  of  God  had 
been  called  to  a  life  and  destiny  out  of  harmony  with 
God's  pre-established  design  and  order  of  all  things, 
how  then  could  all  things  have  worked  together  with 
them  for  their  good.  The  very  words  work  together 
imply  harmony  between  "all  things"  and  the  pur- 
pose of  the  believer's  call;  for  if  there  is  no  harmony 
they  do  not  work  together.  The  last  clause  of  the 
verse  is  a  blessed  addition  to  the  foregoing  part.  God 
has  no  purpose  in  regard  to  any  thing  whatsoever 
that  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  good  of  those  who 
love  him,  and  that  does  not  have  that  good  in  view. 

V.  29.  Paul  in  this  and  the  following  verse  states 
plainly  his  reason  for  sajdng  that  all  things  —  the 
"groanings"  of  the  human  spirit,  the  "  groanings " 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  human  spirit,  all  things 
whatsoever,  work  together  for  the  good  of  them  that 
love  God.  'Bor  whom  he  did  foreknow.  Those 
whom  God  foreknew  would  love  him ;  or,  in  other 
words,  fulfill  the  condition  of  salvation — that  is,  have 
faith.  God  evidently  knew  from  eternity  that  some 
human  beings  would  be  saved,  and  that  in  order  to  be 
saved  they  would  comply  with  the  condition  of  sal- 
vation. He  foreknew  that  some  would  resist  his 
Spirit,  and  that  others  would  not.     It  is  his  knowl- 


248         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

edge  of  those  who  would  not  resist  his  Spirit  that  is 
here  spoken  of.  Nothing  is  said  in  regard  to  those 
who  would  resist  him,  for  the  passage  is  written  sim- 
ply for  the  comfort  and  encouragement  of  Christians  ; 
it  is  a  sure  ground  for  the  hope  of  their  future  glori- 
fication. 

He  did  also  predestinate.  Those  whom  God 
saw  from  eternity  would  have  faith,  he  predestinated, 
or  solemnly  and  irrevocably  determined  should  be 
conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son.  His  word  is 
pledged ;  his  decree  has  gone  forth ;  it  shall  be  done ; 
and  this  is  the  immovable  basis  of  our  belief  in,  not 
only  the  preservation  of  the  believer,  but  also  his  glo- 
rification. What  God  predestinates  is,  not  that  any 
man  shall  believe  or  not  believe ;  but  that  having  be- 
lieved, he  shall  be  conformed,  etc.  That  this  is  the 
teaching  of  the  passage  is  plain  and  obvious  enough 
apart  even  from  intricate  discussion,  and  it  is  substan- 
tially the  interpretation  of  a  great  many  commenta- 
tors of  various  schools.  God  may  predestinate,  or 
foreordain,  or  eternally  decree,  one  thing  or  another. 
Here  the  thing  predestinated  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
conformity  of  believers  to  the  image  of  his  Son,  while 
in  Eph.  i.  5  it  is  their  adoption  as  children ;  i  Cor.  ii. 
7,  it  is  the  "  hidden  wisdom,"  or  wise  plan  of  salvation 
which  God  foreordained ;  in  Acts  iv.  28,  it  is  simply 
"whatsoever."  The  doctrine  of  "  predestination  "  is 
of  course  scriptural,  and  it  is  very  comforting  to  the 
Christian.  But  there  are  some  interpretations  of 
the  doctrine  which  are  not  only  not  scriptural,  but  are 
positively  anti-scrv^XMraX.  As  it  is  true  (and  comfort- 
ing) that  God  foreordained  that  believers  should  at 
last  reach  the  state  of  heavenly  glorification,  so  is  it 
true  that  he  foreordained  that  unbelievers  should  not. 


Chapter  VIII.  249 


It  was  never  his  intention  that  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked  should  go  to  the  same  place,  but  it  has  always 
been  his  intention  that  they  should  not ;  and  what  are 
called  God's  decrees  are  only  the  temporal  expression 
of  God's  eternal  intentions — and  we  can  know  his  in- 
tentions from  what  is  revealed  of  his  character  in  the 
Bible  and  in  nature. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see,  therefore,  that  even  the 
Jews  and  Romans  (Acts  iv.  28)  did  whatsoever  God 
determined  before  should  come  to  pass ;  for  if  God 
foreordained  a  plan  of  salvation,  as  he  surely  did,  he 
must  have  foreordained  that  even  every  wicked  act  of 
man  should  fit  in  with  that  plan,  otherwise  the  plan 
might  prove  to  be  a  failure.  But  what  God  foreordains 
in  regard  to  wickedness  is  the  opposite,  or  negative,  of 
what  he  foreordains  in  regard  to  righteousness ;  for  it 
is  just  as  trul}^  the  expression  of  God's  eternal  decree 
or  eternal  nature  that  the  outflow  of  a  wicked  char- 
acter should  be  wicked  acts,  as  that  the  outflow  of  a 
righteous  character  should  be  righteous  acts.  If  there 
is  to  be  any  order  at  all  in  the  universe  a  fruit  tree  can 
not  be  allowed  to  bring  forth  thistles,  nor  a  thistle 
tree  any  thing  but  thistles.  So  that,  strictly  speaking, 
a  man  (Judas,  for  example)  is  not  condemned  for  his 
wicked  acts  chiefly,  but  for  having  such  a  character 
as  can  manifest  itself  only  in  wicked  acts.  And  for 
the  kind  of  character  he  has  every  human  being  is 
responsible. 

Conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son,  This 
does  not  mean  likeness  to  Christ  in  respect  to  suffer- 
ing (verse  17),  he  being  in  this  our  pattern — that  is,  as 
Christ  was  made  perfect  as  a  Mediator,  through  suf- 
fering, so  must  we  be  made  perfect.  This  is  true,  but 
it  does  not  seem  to  be  what  Paul  is  teaching  here. 


250  Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  30 : — Moreover^  whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also 
called:  and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified:  and  whom, 
he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified. 


Such,  however,  is  the  view  of  Calvin,  Grotius,  and  some 
others.  It  is  better  to  regard  conformity  to  Christ's 
image  as  meaning  likeness  to  his  image,  not  in  the  out- 
ward circumstance  of  suffering,  but  in  our  nature— or 
in  what  shall  more  and  more  become  our  nature,  to 
wit,  our  character,  including  at  last,  however,  the  out- 
ward circumstances  of  that  character :  the  glorified  be- 
liever and  the  glorified  surroundings  of  the  believer 
shall  be  like  unto  Christ  and  unto  Christ's.  This 
seems  to  be  substantially  the  view  of  most  commenta- 
tors. And  this,  so  far  as  the  believer  is  concerned,  is 
the  end  to  which  the  predestination  looks. 

That  he  might  be  the  first  horn  among 
many  brethren.  This  is  the  end,  so  far  as  it  has 
reference  to  Christ,  to  which  the  predestination  looks 
— that  he  might  be  leader  and  head  of  a  glorified  host, 
all  of  whose  luster  is,  after  all,  but  his  own.  They 
shine  only  in  his  splendor,  and  not  in  an  angel's,  for 
they  are  his  brethren. 

V.  30.  Them  he  also  called,  God  foreknew 
and  predestinated  in  eternity,  and  what  he  thus 
resolved  upon  in  eternity  he  takes  the  necessary 
steps,  so  to  speak,  to  have  accomplished  in  time — that 
is,  in  the  first  place,  by  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  or  by  the  formal  or  informal  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  he  called.  Whom  did  he  call?  The  predesti- 
nated— that  is,  believers.  Were  not  others  called? 
Yes,  for  he  "  came  to  call  sinners  to  repentance;  "  but 
Paul  does  not  here  say  this.     He  restricts  his  thought 


Chapter  VIII.  251 


here  to  the  predestinated,  as  if  he  had  said,  Whatever 
may  be  said  in  regard  to  others,  one  thing  is  certain : 
he  did  not  omit  to  call,  to  extend  all  needed  means  of 
grace  to,  the  predestinated — that  is,  to  those  whom  he 
foreknew  would  believe  if  they  had  the  opportunity. 
Hence,  no  one  need  have  any  fears  on  that  point. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  means  of  grace  are  equally 
offered  to  those  who  never  believe,  but  it  does  not 
here  concern  Paul's  line  of  thought  to  look  upon  that 
side  of  the  subject.  Indeed,  the  call  with  him  is  gen- 
erally, if  not  invariably,  effectual,  because  he  speaks 
of  believers.  Our  Savior,  however,  in  the  Gospels, 
speaks  of  the  call  as  being  in  many  instances  ineffect- 
ual. "  Many  are  called,  but  few  chosen  "  (Matt.  xx. 
16) ;  which  is  the  same  as  saying.  All  are  called,  but 
only  many  are  chosen — few  in  comparison  with  all, 
Paul  contemplates  the  future  only  of  these  "  few." 
Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  eternal  destiny  of  the 
others,  they  never  become  God's  choice,  his  chosen 
ones ;  but  it  is  not  because  they  were  not  called  in  the 
same  sense  as  were  those  who  do.  The  rain  of  his 
grace  falls  alike  upon  the  *' just  and  the  unjust." 

Them,  he  also  justified.  Justification  is  here 
what  we  have  seen  it  to  be  elsewhere  in  this  epistle,  to 
wit :  the  removal  from  one,  on  account  of  his  faith, 
of  the  condemnation  which  he  is  already  under  who 
believes  not — a  ceasing  to  be  the  object  of  God's  dis- 
approbation and  becoming  the  object  of  his  approba- 
tion. Of  course,  this  relation  of  God  and  the  believer 
is  a  legal  relation — that  is,  it  is  one  in  which  the  atti- 
tude of  the  party  to  the  divine  will  or  nature,  consid- 
ered as  law,  is  the  thing  involved  (John  iii.  18). 

If  the  reader  has  kept  in  mind  Paul's  line  of 
thought,  as  we  have  endeavored  to  trace  it,  he  remem- 


252  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

bers  that  since  we  entered  chap,  vi.,  the  central  theme 
has  been  sanctification,  or  the  holy  life  which  must  be 
the  outflow  of  the  renewed  heart.  The  renewed  heart 
is  the  guaranty  of  the  renewed  life,  and  the  renewed 
life  implies  the  renewed  heart,  and  the  two  together 
constitute  sanctification.  But  why,  then,  did  not  Paul 
proceed  to  say,  "Whom  he  justified  he  also  sancti- 
fied?" The  reason  why  he  omits  to  mention  sancti- 
fication here  is,  because,  as  he  has  sought  to  show  his 
readers,  justification  would  not  be  justification  as  he 
conceives  it  unless  it  be  understood  to  imply  sanctifi- 
cation. It  does  not  imply  it,  however,  simply  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  predestination  implies  the  call,  for 
between  these  two  there  is  no  essential  relation,  but 
only  an  arbitrary  one,  or  one  depending  solely  on  the 
will  of  God.  There  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  pre- 
destination that  causes  it  to  be  followed  by  the  call. 
But  justification  not  onl}'  docs,  but  must,  imply  sancti- 
fication ;  it  would  not  be  Pauline  justification  if  it 
did  not.  Hence,  there  was  no  need  of  saying,  Whom 
he  justified,  them  he  also  sanctified. 

^hotn  he  justMed,  them  he  also  gloriRed, 
Justification  does  not  in  itself  imply  glorification; 
hence,  the  Apostle  must  explicitly  state  that  the  for- 
mer will  be  followed  by  the  latter  because  of  the 
nature  of  God  and  not  because  of  the  nature  of  justi- 
fication. But  what  is  meant  here  b}^  being  glorified  ? 
It  has  reference  to  the  final  glorious  consummation 
of  our  salvation  as  already  explained;  see  note  on 
preceding  verse. 

The  past  tense  of  the  verbs  is  used  throughout  this 
verse— "  called,"  "justified,"  "glorified."  This  does 
not  imply,  of  course,  that  none  would  be  called,  justi- 
fied, and  glorified,  after  Paul's  day.      The   Apostle 


Chapter  VIII.  253 


V.  31 : —  Whai  shall  we  then  say  to  these  things  f  If  God  be 
for  uSf  who  can  be  against  us  ? 

looks  upon  these  facts  as  so  certain  to  be  accom- 
plished that  he  may  truly  speak  of  them  as  already 
accomplished  even  in  the  case  of  the  future  believer. 

The  reader  should  observe  the  steps  in  the  divini 
process  of  salvation  as  here  stated  by  Paul — 

1.  Foreknowledge. 

2.  Predestination. 

3.  The  call. 

4.  Justification,  implying  sanctification. 

5.  Glorification. 

It  is  the  Apostle's  purpose  in  this  passage  to 
encourage  Christians ;  hence,  it  is  not  his  purpose  to 
speak  of  the  human  side  of  salvation;  and  hence, 
again,  he  makes  no  mention  of  repentance,  faith,  etc. 
He  is  writing  to  believers  of  believers,  and,  therefore, 
takes  repentance  and  faith  for  granted.  In  his 
preaching  to  the  jailer,  however,  and  other  uncon- 
verted persons,  as  reported  in  the  Acts,  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  say,  Repent,  and  "  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

V.  31.  What  shall  we  say?  In  view  of  the 
foreknowledge,  and  the  predestination,  and  the  call, 
the  justification,  the  glorification,  all  of  which  God  is 
pledged  by  his  very  nature  to  accomplish,  what  shall 
we  say?  If  God  be  for  us,  what  matters  it  who  may 
be  against  us?  The  Arch  Enemy  himself  can  not 
triumph  over  us. 

V.  32.  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,    This 


254         '^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  32 : — He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him 
up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things? 

V.  33:— JFy^f?  shall  lay  any  thing  to  the  charge  of  God's 
elect  ?    It  is  God  that  justifieth. 


is  "the  climax"  of  proofs  that  God  is  for  us.  The 
very  reference  to  it  here  by  Paul  implies  something 
which  we  can  express  in  human  language  only  by 
saying  that  it  caused  the  Father-heart  of  God  the 
intensest  pang  to  "  spare  not  his  own  Son."  If  not 
so,  how  could  the  Apostle  here  mention  it  as  a  proof 
that  he  will  freely  give  us  all  things  ?  The  fact  that 
one  has  given  a  small  gift  is  no  proof  that  he  will 
give  a  large  one.  But  if  he  give  a  large  one,  how 
much  easier  is  it  to  give  a  small  one  !  But  the  great- 
ness of  a  gift  depends  upon  its  dearness  to  him  who 
gives  it.  If  to  give  his  Son  had  not  cost  God  a  most 
intense  pang  (humanly  speaking),  it  might  to  us  still 
have  been  a  great  gift,  but  it  would  not  have  been  so 
to  God.  We  may  reverently  say  that  the  only  good 
thing  that  it  was  ever  hard  for  God  to  do  was  to  give 
up  to  humiliation,  suffering,  and  death,  his  own  Son, 
and  this  is  the  only  fact  that  gives  Paul's  words  here 
any  force.  But  he  who  could  do  that  loves  us  well 
enough  to  freely  give  us  any  thing — all  things — and 
in  giving  us  all  things  he  glorifies  us,  makes  us  sharers 
in  all  the  glory  of  his  own  Son.  It  is  not  according 
to  the  nature  of  a  man  to  so  treat  adopted  children, 
especially  when  he  has  an  "  own  son." 

V.  33.  Who  shall  lay,  etc.  The  question  antici- 
pates a  negative  answer.  Surely  no  one ;  neither 
conscience,  nor  law,  nor  any  man,  nor  Satan  himself. 


Chapter  VIII.  255 

V.  34 :—  JVho  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  It  is  Christ  that  died, 
yea  rather,  that  is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us. 

If  any  one  does,  it  will  make  no  difference.  God  has 
justified  us,  and  will  ever  justify  us  against  tHe  con- 
demnations of  all  accusers ;  if  he  justifies,  he  will 
also  glorify,  causing  our  righteousness  to  shine  forth 
as  the  noonday,  as  he  did  Job's,  notwithstanding 
the  accusations  even  of  his  friends  and  of  Satan  (Ps. 
xxxvii.  6). 

God^S  elect,  God's  chosen  ones.  Who  are  they? 
They  are  those  to  whom  and  of  whom  Paul  has  been 
writing  in  all  these  verses.  They  are  believers — those 
who  have  accepted  Christ.  Or,  speaking  of  others, 
whether  yet  born  or  unborn,  they  are  those  whom 
God  foreknows  as  those  who  will  accept  Christ; 
when  they  have  once  come  upon  the  stage  of  human 
action  as  believers  and  justified  ones,  they  are  God's 
elect,  and  he  will  vindicate  them  against  every  ac- 
cuser. 

V.  34.  Who  is  be  that  condemneth  ?  Liter- 
ally, "  Who  is  the  one  condemning? "  As  there  might 
be  many  accusers,  so  there  can  be  but  one  Judge. 
Who  is  that  one  who  will  pronounce  the  final  sen- 
tence of  condemnation  on  the  believer  ?  Christ  is  the 
only  judge  of  the  living  and  dead ;  but  it  can  not  be 
he,  for  he  died  in  order  to  prevent  that  very  thing ; 
and  in  order  that  his  death  might  not  be  unavailing 
he  is  also  risen  and  still  lives,  and  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
communicates  to  believers  his  own  life.  At  the 
right  hand  of  God,  The  position  of  highest  influ- 
ence and  exaltation,  giving  the  greatest  degree  of 


256  The  BPIST1.E  TO  THE  Romans. 

V.  35 : —  IV/ia  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ? 
shall  tribulation^  or  distress,  or  persecution^  or  famine^  or 
nakedness,  or  peril,  or  sword? 

V.  36  •: — As  it  is  written,  For  thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the 
day  long  ;  we  are  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter. 

potency  to  his  intercessions  in  the  Christian's  behalf. 
The  believer's  friend  at  court  is  the  one  who  is  the 
nearest  to  the  throne.  It  is  this  communication  of 
his  own  spiritual  life  to  the  believer,  these  interces- 
sions which  he  makes  for  him  in  every  moment  of 
spiritual  weakness  or  lapse,  that  Paul  refers  to  in  the 
last  clause  of  chap.  v.  10.  And  the  Psalmist  said, 
"  He  restoreth  my  soul  " — and  this  he  does  as  the  one 
who  himself  still  lives  as  the  source  of  life. 

V.  35.  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love 
of  Christ  ?  A  triumphant  question.  The  "  love  of 
Christ "  is  evidently  not  our  love  for  him,  but  his  love 
for  us.  This  is  what  the  apostle  has  been  speaking 
of.  Who,  in  the  very  face  of  all  the  proofs  just  men- 
tioned of  his  omnipotent  love  for  us  (believers),  can 
cause  him  to  become  our  enemy  ?  Who  can  tear  us 
from  him,  and  put  a  distance  between  us  and  him  ? 
Christ  will  permit  no  tribulation,  however  severe,  to 
come  between  him  and  the  object  of  his  love.  If  the 
object  of  his  love  suffers,  however  disgracefully  in  the 
world's  estimation,  or  however  loathsomely,  Christ  is 
by  his  side,  and  loves  him  still,  and  abides  with  him 
with  as  much  self-forgetting  alacrity  of  love  in  a  dun- 
geon as  in  a  palace.  Where  he  is  whom  Christ  loves 
there  will  Christ  be  also. 

V.  36.  As  it  is  written,  etc.  The  mention  of 
persecution  and  reward  in  the  last  verse  reminds  Paul 


Chapter  VIII.  257 


V.  37  : — Nay^  in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  conquer- 
ors through  him  that  loved  us. 

of  a  passage  in  Ps.  xliv.  22,  which  he  quotes  as  being 
only  too  applicable  to  the  Christians  of  his  day  and 
subsequently,  and  which  is  hardly  less  applicable  to 
Christians  in  some  parts  of  the  world  to-day.  But  he 
who  suflfers  for  Christ  in  any  form  Christ  will  never 
forsake. 

V.  37.  Nayj  in  all  these  things  we  are  more 
than  conquerors.  In  our  very  tribulations,  dis- 
tresses, persecutions,  etc.,  we  are  more  than  conquer- 
ors. Our  very  defeats  are  our  victories ;  even  more 
than  bare  victories,  for  instead  of  merely  conquering 
our  enemies  we  win  them  over  to  our  side.  John 
Bunyan's  twelve  years  of  darkest  defeat  proved  to  be 
the  twelve  years  of  his  most  brilliant  triumph.  And 
was  not  Luther  most  mighty  in  behalf  of  the  German 
Reformation  while  he  was  in  prison  at  Wartburg? 
The  fact  that  Paul  was  a  prisoner  gave  him  oppor- 
tunity to  preach  the  gospel  to  Caesar's  household 
and  to  write  epistles  which  he  might  not  otherwise 
have  written.  Christianity  was  spread  abroad  rapidly 
because  the  Christians  were  persecuted  at  Jerusalem. 
The  more  we  are  "  killed  all  the  day  long,"  the  more 
may  we  be  "more  than  conquerors." 

Through  him  that  loved  us.  Not  through 
his  love,  but  through  himself  as  the  one  who  loved 
us.  It  is  Christ  in  us  who  gains  these  victories. 
But  why  did  Paul  say  loved,  using  the  past  tense, 
instead  of  loves  f  Simply  because  he  had  in  mind 
the  one  greatest  proof  of  Christ's  love  for  us  which 
lie  gave  in  dying  for  us.  But  he  still  loves  us  with 
17 


258  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  38 : — For  I  a7n  persuaded,  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor 
angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  7ior  things  present,  nor 
things  to  come, 

V.  39 : — Nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature, 
shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in 
Christ  fesus  our  Lord, 

the  same  love,  as  Paul  has  abundantly  stated,  verses 

34,  35- 

V.  38.  JPor  1  am.  persuaded.  Paul  confirms  the 
statement  made  in  verse  37  by  an  enthusiastic  affirma- 
tion of  his  own  conviction  that  nothing  whatever  can 
separate  us,  etc.  He  does  not  speak  merel}-  of  him- 
self, but  of  us,  all  believers,  all  who  love  God,  all  who 
are  called  according  to  his  purpose  (verse  28).  Paul's 
evident  purpose  here  is  to  declare  the  impossibility  of 
any  thing  w^hatsover  separating  the  believer  from  the 
love  of  God.  Nothing  that  can  be  named  or  con- 
ceived of  can  do  it.  We  may  proceed  in  our  enumer- 
ation of  things  all  the  way  from  death  to  life,  the  two 
extremes,  and  we  can  find  nothing  that  can  do  it; 
no  good  or  hostile  angel,  no  principality,  no  power, 
nothing  in  the  past,  or  present,  or  future,  nothing  in 
the  deepest  depth,  nothing  in  the  highest  height,  no 
any  thing  whatsoever. 

V.  39.  Shall  be  able  to  separate.    See  on  verse 

35.  Prom  the  love  of  God.  God's  love  for  us; 
called  in  verse  35  the  love  of  Christ,  or  Christ's  love 
for  us.  The  two  loves  are  the  same  love.  As  God 
was  incarnated  in  Christ,  so  was  God's  love  incarnated 
in  Christ's  love.  God  and  Christ  are  one  also  in  their 
relation  to  the  believer.  He  who  has  Christ  on  his 
side  has  God  on  his  side :  and  if  any  one  can  possibly 


Chapter  VIII.  259 


conceive  that  any  thing  created  in  the  past,  or  that 
may  be  created  in  the  eternities  to  come,  could  be 
more  powerful  than  Christ,  nothing  that  is,  or  ever 
will  be,  can  be  more  powerful  than  God.  Who,  then, 
or  what,  shall  ever  be  able  to  separate  us  from  God's 
love  toward  us  as  manifest  in  Christ? 


26o         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


V. 
THE  DOCTRINE  IN  ITS  HISTORICAL  ASPECTS. 

(Another  principal  objection  and  the  answer.) 

Chapters  ix.-xi. 

Paul  having  stated  and  expounded  his  doctrine  of 
justification  by  grace  through  faith,  and  having  estab- 
lished the  fact  that  the  natural  tendency  of  the  doc- 
trine is  to  promote  holiness,  or  right  living,  rather 
than  disregard  for  the  law  of  God,  proceeds  in  these 
three  chapters  to  set  forth  his  subject  in  its  historical 
aspects — that  is,  in  its  bearings  upon  the  Jews  in  their 
relation  to  God  as  his  covenant,  or  elect,  people.  The 
Apostle  rightly  anticipated  that  the  Jew  would  object 
to  his  doctrine  of  a  salvation  offered  to  Gentiles  as 
well  as  Jews  simply  as  a  matter  of  free  grace.  That 
seemed  to  be  placing  the  outlying  Gentile  nations  on 
precisely  the  same  plane  as  the  Jewish  nation ;  and 
this  in  turn  seemed  very  much  like  saying  that  the 
election  of  Israel  amounted  to  nothing.  What  is  the 
use  in  our  being  members  of  the  Church  if  the  out- 
sider is,  after  all,  going  to  stand  as  well  in  God's  sight 
as  we  do?  Not  only  so.  The  Jew  rightly  understood 
Paul's  doctrine  as  implying  that  the  Jew  might  even 
be  rejected,  ceasing  to  be  the  Church ;  and  that  the 
Gentiles  might  be  incorporated  into  the  kingdom  in 
Israel's  place  ;  or,  to  use  Paul's  own  figure,  that  the 
Gentiles  might  be  grafted  into  the  stock  composed  of 


Chapter  IX.  261 


a  few  believing  Jews,  and  themselves  constitute  the 
Church,  or  chosen  people  of  God.  Paul  not  only 
admits  the  implication,  but  actually  affirms  the  rejec- 
tion of  Israel.  But  was  not  this  an  infringement  of 
the  covenant  with  Israel,  and  of  the  long  established 
doctrine  of  the  divine  faithfulness?  To  the  Jew  it 
was,  and  hence  in  his  estimation  it  was  a  formidable 
objection  to  Paul's  doctrine  of  salvation.  This,  then, 
is  the  question  to  which  the  Apostle  in  these  three 
chapters  addresses  himself.  In  each  chapter  a  dis- 
tinct phase  of  the  subject  is  presented. 

1.  In  chap,  ix.,  the  true  doctrine  of  the  divine  Sov- 
ereignty, which  it  is  necessary  to  set  forth  in  order 
that  the  Jews  might  see  that  God  had  never  forfeited 
his  absolute  right  to  do  as  might  please  him  in  regard 
to  both  Jews  and  Gentiles. 

2.  In  chapter  x.  he  shows  that  his  doctrine  by  no 
means  implied  that  God  had  exercised  his  absolute 
sovereignty  in  a  way  wrongful  to  the  Jews,  but  that 
their  rejection  was  due,  in  the  first  place,  solely  to 
their  abuse  of  the  covenant  privileges. 

3.  In  chapter  xi.  he  looks  to  the  future,  and  tells  of 
the  glorious  restoration  of  the  Jews,  which  is  to  be 
the  outcome  of  the  rejection  spoken  of  in  chapter  x., 
and  which  is  to  take  place  at  the  time  of  the  fullness 
of  the  Gentiles. 

The  Divine  Sovereignty. 

(Chap.  IX.) 

Paul  treats  this  subject  here  only  in  its  historical 
relations  to  his  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace  through 
faith — that  is,  only  in  so  far  as  that  doctrine  was  erro- 
neously supposed  by  the  Jews  to  aflfect  God's  sover- 


262  The  BPISTI.E  to  the  Romans. 

eign  relation  to  Israel  as  his  chosen  people,  and  to 
whom  he  was  pledged  to  be  faithful.  He  argues  that 
this  covenant  with  Israel  should  not  be  so  understood 
as  to  place  restrictions  upon  God's  absolute  sover- 
eignty and  liberty.  God  had  placed  no  limitation 
upon  himself,  forever  and  inexorably  binding  himself 
to  save  Israel,  regardless  of  Israel's  own  character  and 
conduct.  He  quotes  from  the  Jews'  own  scripture  to 
the  effect  that  God's  sovereignty  and  liberty  would 
not  indeed  be  absolute  if  he  has  not  the  right  to  have 
mercy  on  whom  he  will  have  mercy,  even  though  that 
person  be  a  believing  Gentile ;  and  if  he  has  not  the 
right  to  reject  whomsoever  he  will,  be  he  even  an 
unbelieving  and  unfaithful  Jew. 

The  Apostle,  before  proceeding  to  show  that  the 
rejection  of  the  Jews  lies  not  in  God,  but  in  their  own 
unfaithfulness  expresses  the  keen  grief  which  the 
contemplation  of  the  subject  awakens  with  him.  To 
think  that  his  own  people  and  God's  own  adopted  peo- 
ple should  be  rejected  on  account  of  their  own  unbe- 
lief and  persistent  perversion  of  the  teachings  even  of 
their  own  Scriptures  in  regard  to  the  true  way  to  be 
saved,  caused  him  great  heaviness  and  continual  sor- 
row of  heart  (vs.  1-5).  The  remainder  of  the  chapter 
is  devoted  to  the  vindication  of : 

1.  God's  faithfulness  (vs.  6-13). 

2.  God's  absolute  power  and  liberty  (vs.  14-21). 

3.  God's  justice  and  mercy  (vs.  22-24). 

And  then  he  shows  that  God's  conduct  in  rejecting 
the  Jews  and  calling  the  Gentiles,  instead  of  being  a 
matter  to  occasion  surprise  and  yet  greater  hardness, 
was  even  foretold  in  ancient  Jewish  prophecy  (vs. 
25-33)- 


Chapter  IX.  263 


Chap.  IX.,  V.  I : — I  say  the  truth  in  Christy  I  lie  not,  my  con- 
science also  bearing  me  witness  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 

V.  2  : — That  I  have  great  heaviness  and  continual  sorrow  in 
my  heart. 

V.  I.  J  say  the  truth  in  Christ.  It  was  possi- 
ble for  the  unbelieving  Jew  to  entertain  the  blasphe- 
mous thought  that  Christ  might  speak  falsehood ;  but 
Paul  could  affirm  the  truth  of  any  thing  in  no  stronger 
way  than  to  say  it  in  Christ.  He  lived  and  acted  in 
Christ,  and  in  his  pure  and  holy  atmosphere  no  un- 
truth, no  exaggeration  even,  was  possible.  (Eph.  iv. 
15,  17.)  I  lie  not.  This  is  the  negative  way  of  say- 
ing what  he  had  affirmed  in  the  first  clause — a  mode 
of  expression  not  uncommon  in  Scripture.  (See  Isa. 
xxxviii.  i;  John  i.  20.)  It  strengthens  the  affirmation, 
for  it  means  that  Paul  not  only  told  the  truth,  but 
that  he  told  it  without  mixture  of  falsehood.  My 
conscience  .  .  .  in  the  Holy  Spirit.  His  con- 
science, sanctified  and  enlightened  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
bore  testimony  to  Paul  that  he  was  telling  the  trutb, 
and  it  bore  testimony  wit/i  Paul  to  the  Jewish  people. 
Paul  was  accused  by  his  fellow  Jews — the  unbelieving 
part — of  being  a  renegade  from  the  old  faith,  hostile 
to  his  own  people,  and  of  exalting  the  Gentiles  at 
their  expense.  Hence  the  strong  assertion  to  the 
contrary  which  he  here  makes. 

V.  2.  Great  heaviness.  A  great  grief.  Contin- 
ual sorrow.  Unceasing  pain  of  heart,  caused  by 
Israel's  rejection,  Israel's  attitude  toward  the  gospel. 
And  yet  on  other  accounts  Paul  "rejoiced  alway." 

V.  3.  I  could  wish.  The  Apostle  does  not  say, 
*'  I  do  wish,"  for  the  wish  was  never  really  formed  in 


264  Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  3 : — For  I  could  wish  that  tnyself  were  accursed  from 
Christ  for  my  brethren^  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  : 


his  heart.  His  meaning  is,  I  could  wish  if  it  were 
possible  to  entertain  such  a  wish,  or  if  it  were  pos- 
sible for  such  a  wish  to  be  realized.  If  he  had,  how- 
ever, nothing  to  consult  in  making  such  a  wish  but 
his  burning  love  for  his  people,  and  his  desire  for  his 
people,  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  could  make  such  a 
wish. 

Accursed  from  Christ,  If  it  were  right  or  pos- 
sible, or  if  it  would  avail  in  their  behalf,  I  could  wish 
that  myself  were  regarded  and  treated  as  anathema — 
a  thing  accursed — for  the  sake  of  m}^  brethren,  the 
Jews.  It  is  simply  a  strong  way  of  expressing  his 
longing  for  the  salvation  of  his  people.  These  words 
have  been  interpreted  in  several  other  ways  by  expos- 
itors, but  I  have  given  what  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
plainest  and  most  natural  view.  It  is  hardly  conceiv- 
able that  Paul  meant  that  "he  would  consent,  if  it 
were  possible,  to  fall  back  again  forever  into  the  state 
of  condemnation  in  which  he  lived  before  his  conver- 
sion, if  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  salvation  he  could  bring 
about  the  conversion  of  his  people  Israel,"  though 
this  is  what  Godet  says  Paul  did  mean.  No  man  has 
the  right  to  be  in  such  a  state  of  longing  as  could 
prompt  him  to  entertain  such  a  wish.  A  man  can 
say,  I  could  wish  to  be  disgraced  in  the  estimation  of 
all  men  for  the  sake  of  one  whom  he  loves,  or  I  could 
wish  to  lay  down  my  very  life,  if  it  would  do  any 
good;  but  no  Christian  can  say,  under  any  circum- 
stances, I  could  wish  to  be  God's  eternal  enemy,  and 
have  him  as  my  eternal  enemy. 


Chapter  IX.  265 


V.  4: — Who  are  Israelites ;  to  whom  pertaineth  the  adop- 
iiotiy  and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the 
laWy  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the  promises  ; 

V.  5 : —  Whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom  as  concerning 
the  flesh  Christ  came,  who  is  over  ally  God  blessed  for  ever. 
Amen. 

V.  4.  Who  are  Israelites.  That  is,  my  kinsmen, 
who  are  Israelites  to  whom  pertainethy  etc.  To  whom 
belongs  the  high  honor  of  being  God's  adopted  peo- 
ple. Israel  was  called  God's  first-born  son.  God  had 
entered  into  formal  covenant  relation  with  the  Israel- 
itish  people  at  Sinai,  as  he  had  done  before  with  the 
patriarchs  and  afterward  with  David,  and  they  had 
received  from  him  many  tokens  of  his  visible  pres- 
ence or  glory,  and  the  written  law,  and  an  elaborate 
tabernacle  and  temple  service,  and  many  promises 
concerning  Christ  and  his  kingdom.  No  other  nation 
had  been  so  highly  favored. 

V.  5.  Whose  are  the  fathers.  In  particular, 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob ;  the  great  heroes  of  Israel- 
itish  history  may  be  included,  as  Moses,  Joshua,  Da- 
vid, etc.  To  have  such  an  ancestry  was  a  matter  of 
greatest  national  pride.  And  of  whom  as  con- 
cerning the  Eesh  Christ  came,  Paul  does  not  say 
whose,  or  to  whom,  is  Christ  as  he  had  said  "Whose 
are  the  fathers."  The  fathers  were  the  property,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  Jews  alone,  but  Christ,  while  he  came  of 
the  Jews,  in  respect  to  the  flesh  belonged  alike  to  all 
men.  He  is  over  all;  he  is  God;  he  is  blessed  for- 
ever. Paul  undoubtedly  means  to  affirm  here  the  su- 
preme deity  of  Christ,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
as  to  the  flesh  he  was  born  a  Jew.  This  was  the 
j^eatest  of  the  honors  conferred  upon  the  Jews — and 


266         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  6 : — Not  as  though  the  word  of  God  hath  taken  none  ef- 
fect.    For  they  are  not  all  Israel,  which  are  of  Israel : 

yet  they  were  unbelieving  and  would  be  rejected  as  a. 
people !     It  only  makes  Paul's  grief  the  greater. 

It  is  proper  to  say  that  several  other  interpretations 
of  this  verse  have  been  advocated  by  different  schol- 
ars, all  of  which,  however,  are  founded  upon  a  punc- 
tuation of  the  Greek  text  different  from  that  indicated 
in  our  Authorized  and  Revised  English  Versions,  and 
also  different  from  that  of  the  principal  printed  Greek 
editions.  Some  would  place  a  period  after  came,  and 
make  the  following  part  of  the  verse  read  :  "  May  God, 
who  is  over  all,  be  blessed  forever."  Others  would 
place  the  period  after  all,  and  read:  "May  God  be 
blessed  forever."  It  is  sufficient  to  say  here  that  the 
vast  majority  both  of  ancient  and  modern  authorities 
favor  the  punctuation  as  it  stands  in  the  received  text  ; 
nor  is  there  anj^  thing  in  the  text  as  it  stands  that  is 
contrary  to  Pauline  usage  or  teaching.  Even  Socinus, 
the  father  of  Unitarianism,  admits  that  the  words  of 
the  clause  are  meant  by  Paul  to  be  applied  to  Christ, 
though,  in  this  case  the}^  plainly  teach  the  doctrine  of 
his  divine  Majesty. 

V.  6.  Not  RS  thoiigbf  etc.  Paul  means  to  say  that 
although  he  is  thus  greatly  grieved  at  heart  on  account 
of  the  imminent  rejection  of  his  brethren  the  Jews, 
he  does  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  implying  there- 
by that  "the  word  of  God  hath  taken  none  ef- 
fect ; "  or,  in  other  words,  that  God  would  not  fulfill 
his  promise  to  Israel.  On  the  contrary  the  promise 
would  be  fully  realized.  Paul  proceeds  in  the  follow- 
ing words  to  show  how  Israel  may  be  rejected  as  God's 


Chapter  IX.  267 


V^  7  '.—Neither,  because  they  are  the  seed  of  Abraham,  are 
they  all  children  :  but,  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called. 

V.  8: — That  is,  They  which  are  the  children  of  the  Jlesh, 
these  are  not  the  children  of  God:  but  the  children  of  the 
promise  are  counted  for  the  seed. 

chosen  people,  and  yet  God  be  true  to  the  promises 
made  to  Israel.  JPor  they  are  not  all  Israel 
which  are  of  Israel,  This  was  the  solution  of  the 
matter.  The  Jew  was  misapprehending  the  true  and 
profounder  meaning  of  **  Israel."  When  God  made  a 
promise  to  Israel  he  meant  Israel  in  the  true  sense. 
By  fleshly  descent  they  might  be  members  of  the  Is- 
raelitish  nation  and  yet  not  be  members  of  the  holy 
remnant  to  w^hom  alone  the  promises  were  really  made. 
See  Jer.  xxiii.  3  ;  Amos  v.  15,  and  various  other  pas- 
sages. 

V.  7.  Neither,  because  they  are  the  seed  of 
Abraham.  To  be  "  the  seed  of  Abraham  "  is  the  same 
as  to  be  "of  Israel;"  and  to  be  the  "children"  of 
Abraham  is  the  same  as  to  be  "  Israel."  They  alone 
are  children  of  Abraham  who  are  like  Abraham  in  re- 
spect to  his  most  distinguishing  characteristic— faith. 
Paul  illustrates  by  reference  to  Isaac  and  Ishmael, 
both  of  whom  were  the  seed  of  Abraham,  and  yet  ev- 
idently these  two  did  not  stand  in  the  same  relation 
either  to  God  or  to  Abraham  as  the  father  of  the  faith- 
ful,  or  the  true  seed.  As  it  is  evident,  therefore,  that 
all  who  are  "  of  Abraham  "  are  not  Abraham's,  so  is  it 
true  that  all  who  are  "  of  Israel  "  are  not  Israel. 

V.  8.  That  iSy  they  which  are  the  children 
of  the  flesh.  This  verse  is  explanatory  of  the  pre- 
ceding.    Ishmael  was  the  seed  of  Abraham  b^^  nature 


268  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

merely.  Isaac  was  his  seed  by  miracle  and  faith.  If 
Abraham  had  been  without  faith  there  would  have 
been  no  miracle  and  hence  no  Isaac.  If  God  then 
based  his  choice  or  election  of  a  people  on  faith  in  the 
first  palce,  so  is  this  faith  ever  necessary  as  an  actual 
characteristic  of  those  who  would  be  regarded  as 
God's  children.  If  any  of  the  Jews  have  it  not  they 
are  not  God's  children ;  if  any  of  the  Gentiles  have  it, 
they  are.  He  can  not  be  a  child  of  Abraham,  or  of 
God,  who  lacks  that  very  characteristic  which  consti- 
tutes one  a  child.  If  God  had  the  sovereign  right 
then,  in  the  first  place,  not  to  choose  or  elect  Ishmael's 
descendants  as  his  peculiar  people,  so  has  he  the  same 
sovereign  right  now  to  reject  those  who  are  Israelites 
merely  according  to  the  flesh.  And  as  faith  in  the 
promise  was  the  basis  of  his  choice  of  Abraham's  de- 
scendants through  Isaac,  so  may  faith  be  the  basis  of 
his  call  of  the  Gentiles.  It  is  not  in  any  case  "  Abra- 
ham's fatherhood  that  determines  the  true  seed,  but 
that  promise  which  was  the  expression  of  God's  free 
electing  grace." 

Are  counted  for  the  seed.  Of  course  there  were 
qualities  in  Ishmael  and  Isaac,  and  their  descendants 
respectively,  which  rendered  the  one  more  available 
or  suitable  than  the  other  as  the  constituted  people  of 
God,  and  these  qualities,  summed  up  in  the  word 
faith,  must  have  constituted  the  basis  of  the  divine 
choice,  or  election.  But  the  particular  side  of  the 
truth  which  Paul  wishes  here  to  emphasize  is  that, 
whichever  one  became  the  "seed"  in  the  true  sense, 
became  so  only  because  and  only  in  so  far  as  God  chose 
to  "  count  "  him  so ;  for  he  had  the  sovereign  right  to 
choose  neither. 


Chapter  IX.  269 


V.  9 : — For  this  is  the  word  of  promise^  At  this  time  will  I 
comey  and  Sarah  shall  have  a  son. 

V.  10 : — And  not  only  this  ;  but  when  Rebecca  also  had  con- 
ceived by  one,  even  by  our  father  IsaaCy 

V.  II : — {For  the  children  being  not  yet  born,  neither  hav- 
ing done  any  good  or  evil,  that  the  purpose  of  God  according 
to  election  tnight  stand,  not  of  works,  but  of  him  that  calleth  ;) 

V.  12 : — It  was  said  unto  her,  The  elder  shall  serve  the 
younger. 

V.  13  : — As  it  is  written,  facob  have  I  loved,  but  Esau  have 
I  hated. 

V.  9.  ^or  this  is  the  word  of  promise.  Here 
follows  the  Old  Testament  proof  of  the  statement  in 
the  preceding  verse,  as  if  he  had  written :  I  said,  chil- 
dren of  the  promise  are  counted  the  seed,  and  I 
rightly  used  the  words  *  children  of  the  promise,'  for 
this  is  a  word  of  promise  simply,  implying  no  right 
whatever  on  Abraham's,  or  Isaac's,  or  any  human  be- 
ing's, part,  to  wit,  '*  About  this  time  next  year  I  will 
come,  and  Sarah  shall  have  a  son."     Gen.  xviii.  10-14. 

V.  10-13.  And  not  only  this.  Why  does  the 
Apostle  adduce  yet  further  proof?  Perhaps  because  he 
anticipated  that  the  Jew  might  say  that  the  proof 
drawn  from  the  case  of  Ishmael  and  Isaac  was  not 
conclusive,  as  they  were  the  children  of  two  different 
mothers,  only  one  of  whom  was  the  real  wife.  But 
here  the  mother  of  the  two  children  is  one  and  the 
same  woman,  and  they  are  also  twins,  Rebecca  having 
conceived  dy  one,  to  wit,  Isaac ;  and  more  than  that 
still,  the  election  of  Jacob  and  the  rejection  of  Esau, 
was  indicated  to  Rebecca  even  before  the  children 
were  born,  when  of  course  neither  one  had  done  any 
thing  to   influence   the   divine  choice.     The  circum- 


:27o         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

stances  of  these  two  are  therefore  as  nearly  identical 
as  possible.    Why  then  did  God  choose  the  one  and 
not  the  other,  and  that  one,  too,  the  younger  ?     What- 
ever may  be  truly  said  of  God's  foresight  of  certain 
moral  qualities   on  Jacob's  part  and  the  absence  of 
them  on  Esau's  part,  Paul  does  not  here  direct  atten- 
tion to  them ;  he  wishes  the  Jew  simply  to  understand 
that  God  did  as  he  did  merely  as  one  who  has  the 
sovereign  right  to  do  as  he  pleases.     God  has  a  plan 
before  him ;  both  of  the  two  sons  were  not  needed ; 
and  hence  in  this  sense  he  could  not  choose  both.    In 
choosing   Jacob   his   sovereignty  was   under  no   re- 
straint ;  he  was  bound  by  no  extraneous  obligations 
arising  from  Jacob's  merits ;  he  did  it  in  the  exercise 
of  his  absolute  liberty.     This  is  what  Paul  wishes  the 
Jew  to  recognize ;  and  if  he  only  would  recognize  it> 
if  he  would  only  see  that  God  had  never  in  any  way 
forfeited  his  unlimited  right  to  do  as  he  pleases,  then 
the  Jew  could  no  longer  accuse  God  of  faithlessness 
if  he  should  reject  him.     The  qualities,  whether  moral 
or  other  kinds,  which  God  surely  did  foresee  in  Jacob 
did  determine  the  direction   of  the  divine  choice,  for 
God  does  not  choose  recklessly,  regardlessly,  irration- 
ally (if  we  may  so  speak).      But  no  foreseen  qualities 
on  Jacob's  part  originated  the  divine  choice,  and  they 
were  not  a  meritorious  ground  of  it ;  for  in  this  case 
also  we  may  say  that  his  moral  integrity  would  have 
remained  intact  had  he  chose  neither.    What  he  did 
he  did  in  the  exercise  of  his  sovereign  liberty,  and  no 
one  should  dare  call  him  to  account  for  it. 

V.  12.  It  was  said  unto  her.  Gen.  xxv.  23.  Esau 
shall  serve  Jacob.  That  is,  the  people  descended  from 
Esau,  the  Edomites,  were  alwaj^s  inferior  to  the  Israel- 


Chapter  IX.  271 


V.  14 :  —  IVhat  shall  we  say  then  ?  Is  there  unrighteousness 
with  God  ?     God  forbid. 

V.  15  : — For  he  saith  to  Moses ^  I  will  have  mercy  on  whom 

1  will  have  mercy ^  and  I  will  have  compassion  on  whom  I 
will  have  compassion. 

V.  16 : — So  then  it  is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him 
that  runneth,  but  of  God  that  sheweth  mercy. 

V.  17 : — For  the  Scripture  saith  unto  Pharaoh,  Even  for 
this  same  purpose  have  I  raised  thee  up,  that  I  m,ight  shew 
my  power  in  thee,  and  that  m,y  name  7night  be  declared 
throughout  all  the  earth. 

V.  18: — Therefore  hath  he  m,ercy  on  whom,  he  will  have 
■mercy,  and  whom,  he  will  he  hardeneth. 

ites  or  descendants  of  Jacob,  and  were  actually  re- 
duced to  servitude  by  the  latter,     i  Chron.  xviii.  13; 

2  Chron.  xxi.  8.  B. 

V.  13.  As  it  is  written,  Malachi,  i.  2,  3.  Both 
Paul  and  the  prophet  simply  mean  by  these  words 
that  God  chose  Jacob  and  his  descendants  to  be  his 
officially,  his  Church,  his  people,  the  depository  of  his 
revelation  and  Messianic  promises,  and  that  in  this  ca- 
pacity he  rejected  Ksau.  They  do  not  mean  that  God 
positively  hated  Bsau,  nor  do  they  have  any  reference 
whatever  to  the  eternal  salvation  of  either.  What- 
ever the  word  here  translated  hated  may  mean,  it  is  not 
here  used  in  the  sense  in  which  we  ordinarily  use  the 
word  to  hate  nor  in  the  sense  in  which  the  Greeks  or- 
dinarily used  the  word  misein,  and  the  Hebrews  the 
corresponding  word  sano\  All  peoples  use  most 
words  in  a  more  or  less  figurative  sense,  and  such  is 
doubtless  the  case  here,  the  word  to  hate  being  em- 
ployed to  denote  that  God,  for  reasons  which  he  does 
not  state,  had  a  strong  preference  for  Jacob  over  Esau 
rSO  far  as  acting  in  any  official  or  theocratic  capacity 


27^  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  19: — Thou  wilt  say  then  unto  nie^  Why  doth  he  yet  find 
fault?    For  who  hath  resisted  his  will? 

V.  20/ — Nay  but,  O  man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against 
God?  Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  him  that  formed  it,  Why 
hast  thou  made  me  thus  ? 

V.  21: — Hath  not  the  potter  power  over  the  clay,  of  the 
same  lump  to  inake  one  vessel  utito  honour  and  another  unto 
dishonour  ? 

V.  22 : — What  if  God,  willing  to  shew  his  Tvrath,  and  to 
make  his  power  known,  endured  with  much  long-suffering  the 
vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction : 

V.  23 : — And  that  he  might  make  known  the  riches  of  his 
glory  on  the  vessels  of  mercy,  which  he  had  afore  prepared 
unto  glory, 

V.  24: — Even  us,  whom  he  hath  called,  not  of  the  fews 
only,  but  also  of  the  Gentiles  ? 

was  concerned.  God  chooses,  or  elects,  David  to  be 
king,  but  he  loves  the  souls  of  David's  brothers  or  of 
his  friend  Jonathan  none  the  less.  God  elected  Paul 
to  be  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  and  the  writer 
of  a  great  part  of  the  New  Testament,  but  this  does 
not  imply  any  antipathy  on  God's  part  toward  Barna- 
bas or  Silas,  individually.  The  prophets  were  di- 
vinely inspired  men  but  they  employed  the  language 
to  which  the  warm  tempered  Orientals  were  accus- 
tomed, and  hence  they  often  use  stronger  figures  than 
we  cooler  tempered  Occidental  people  would  use. 
That  our  Savior  should  say,  "  he  that  kuteth  not  his 
father  and  mother  is  not  worthy  of  me,"  did  not 
sound  strangely  to  those  to  whom  he  was  speaking, 
nor  would  it  sound  so  to  us  if  we  would  understand 
the  word  in  the  sense  in  which  they  understood  it  and 
in  which  they  used  it. 

V.  19-24.  The  question  which  Paul  proceeds  to  an- 


Chapter  IX.  273. 


swer  in  these  verses  is  this  :  He  had  affirmed  God's  ab- 
solute sovereignty — his  perfect  liberty  in  executing  his 
plan  for  the  world's  redemption  to  elect  or  reject 
whomsoever  he  would  as  an  official  factor  in  that  plan ;, 
what  he  had  said  and  done  to  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
the  whole  of  Israel,  being  a  matter  of  mere  voluntary 
and  conditional  promise  on  his  part.  The  question, 
then,  is,  Is  not  the  present  exercise  of  this  absolute  lib- 
erty in  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  an  act  of  injustice  on 
the  part  of  God  ?  The  answer  which  Paul  makes  to  the 
question  is  not  a  philosophical  one,  but  scriptural.  It 
is  based  solely  on  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  the 
authority  of  which  no  Jew  could  be  supposed  to 
doubt. 

V.  14.  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Paul's  usual 
mode  of  introducing  the  Jew's  objection  to  his  doc- 
trine.    See  iv.  i ;  vi.  i ;  vii.  7 ;  viii.  31. 

Is  there  unrighteousness  with  God  ?    Is  God 

unjust?  All  that  the  Jew  knew  was  the  law;  this 
was  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  his  ethical  training  ; 
his  conscience  had  been  developed  under  the  law ;  he 
had  no  conscience  apart  from  his  relation  to  the  law ; 
he  supposed  the  conduct  of  God  toward  man  to  be 
regulated  exclusively  by  man's  works,  by  his  merits 
or  demerits,  by  his  outward  attitude  toward  the  I^aw. 
If  God  then  rejects  the  Jews  independently  of  any 
consideration  of  their  attitude  toward  the  Law,  is  he 
not  unjust? 

God  forbid.  By  no  means  ;  let  no  one  think  so  for 
a  moment.  Paul  then  appeals  to  the  Jews'  own  Scrip- 
ture. The  argumentative  force  of  these  quotations 
may  be  briefly  exhibited  as  follows  : 

I.  Your  own  Scriptures  affirm  of  God  the  same  sov- 
18 


/ 

274  "^^^  KPISTI.E  TO  THE  ROMANS. 

ereign  action  independently  of  any  merit  or  demerit 
on  man's  part  as  its  basis. 

2.  You  can  not  believe  that  your  own  Scriptures 
teach  that  God  is  unjust  in  so  acting. 

3.  Therefore  you  can  not  believe  that  I  teach  it. 

V.  15.  Mesaitbto  Moses.  This  passage  is  quoted 
from  Ex.  xxxiii.  19.  I  will  have  mercy  on  whom 
I  will  have  mercy.  That  is,  on  whomsoever  I 
please.  Paul  adds  inverse  18,  "And  whom  he  will  he 
hardeneth."  The  words  teach  the  absolute  freedom  of 
the  divine  action  in  choosing  one  and  rejecting  an- 
other. The  grou7id  or  basis  of  this  divine  action  lies 
wholly  in  the  will  or  nature  of  God,  and  not  in  the 
merit  or  dejnerit  of  the  man.  If  it  lay  in  the  man's 
merit,  then  God  would  be  placed  under  compulsion. 
A  man's  character  or  conduct  may  have  a  determining 
influence  on  the  direction  of  the  divine  action,  but  not 
in  originating  it.  God's  "  hardening  "  proceeds  from 
God's  nature,  just  as  his  having  mercy  proceeds  from 
the  same  source.  Essentially  the  same  familiar  dis- 
tinction between  determining  the  direction  of  God^s 
action,  and  originating  or  being  the  ground  of  his  ac- 
tion, is  made  when  we  say  that  a  man's  faith  is  the 
"instrumental  cause"  of  his  salvation  but  not  the 
ground,  or  meritorious  or  moving  cause  of  it.  And  it 
is  this  last  thought,  to  wit,  the  ground  or  originating 
cause,  which  Paul  wishes  here  to  emphasize.  Why? 
Because  the  Jews  had  utterly  neglected,  and  placed 
the  whole  emphasis  of  their  thoughts  on  their  out- 
ward attitude  toward  the  law,  regarding  this  not  only 
as  the  ground,  but  as  the  sole  ground,  on  which  God 
bestows  his  favors.  Hence,  we  see  that  the  passages 
which  Paul  here  quotes  from  the  Old  Testament  were 


Chapter  IX. 


275 


by  no  means  meant  to  teach  that  God  is  arbitrary  in 
his  bestowments,  and  that  he  is  just  as  likely  to  choose 
one  man  as  another  to  be  a  vessel  of  wrath  or  of 
mercy.  They  simply  teach  that  God's  action  is  abso- 
lutely free,  and  in  no  case  under  the  compulsion  of 
any  influence  or  force  outside  of  himself,  and  that 
hence  he  is  responsible  to  no  one  whatsoever  for  what 
he  does  or  does  not. 

V.  16.  So  then,  etc.  The  ground,  or  originating 
cause,  of  God's  conduct  to  man  is  himself  alone,  and 
not  outside  of  himself;  it  is  not  in  the  will  of  any 
man,  but  in  his  own.  Many  may  run  in  a  race,  but 
God  gives  the  prize  to  whomsoever  he  pleases,  i  Cor. 
ix.  24-26. 

V.  17.  For  the  Scripture  saith.    See  Ex.  ix.  16. 

These  words  are  quoted  as  an  example  of  how,  or  in 
what  sense,  God  hardens.  Do  the  words  mean  that 
God  aroused  or  excited  Pharaoh  to  resist  the  Israel- 
ites? Yes,  say  Augustine,  DeWette,  Reuss,  and  oth- 
ers. Meyer's  words  are :  "  Thy  whole  historical  ap- 
pearance has  been  brought  about  by  me  in  order  that 
I  might  show  my  power  in  thee."  So  in  substance 
Beza,  Calvin,  Bengel.  Hodge  says  that  "  Pharaoh  was 
no  worse  than  many  other  men  who  have  obtained 
mercy ;  yet  God  for  wise  and  benevolent  reasons  with- 
held from  him  the  saving  influences  of  his  grace,  and 
gave  him  up  to  his  own  wicked  heart,  so  that  he  be- 
came more  and  more  hardened  until  he  was  finally 
destroyed.  God  did  nothing  to  Pharaoh  beyond  his 
strict  deserts ;  he  did  not  make  him  wicked ;  he  only 
forebore  to  make  him  good,  by  the  exertion  of  special 
and  unmerited  grace."     Macknight,  who  belonged  to 


276         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

the  same  school  of  interpreters  with  Calvin,  thinks 
that  by  **  Pharaoh  "  God  meant  not  Pharaoh  individual- 
ly, but  Pharaoh  as  representing  the  kingdom  over 
which  he  ruled,  or  Pharaoh  in  his  official  capacity. 

Various  other  shades  of  opinion  have  been  held  in 
regard  to  the  meaning  of  the  words.  One  thing  may 
be  regarded  as  certain  :  They  do  not  teach  that  God 
made  Pharaoh  wicked,  nor  do  they  teach  that  by  any 
sort  of  influence  on  Pharaoh's  heart  God  impelled  him 
to  evil.  Pharaoh  never  did  manifest  the  slightest  in- 
clination to  justice  and  righteousness.  His  only  mo- 
mentary relenting  was  caused  by  fear,  and  if  under 
the  influence  of  this  fear  he  had  let  the  Israelites  go 
away  he  would  still  have  been  a  wicked  man.  He  was 
hardened  against  his  fear.  He  would  have  been  a 
wicked  man  even  had  he  never  been  king  or  stood  in 
any  relation  to  the  Israelites.  Had  God  raised  up  a 
good  man  to  be  king,  one  who  would  have  permitted 
the  Israelites  to  go  away  unmolested,  there  never 
could  have  been  the  great  display  of  divine  power  in 
Israel's  behalf  at  the  Red  Sea  passage.  But  as  such  a 
display  of  power  would  be  of  immense  advantage  to 
Israel,  instead  of  raising  up  a  good  man  to  be  king  at 
this  time,  God  chose  to  exalt  to  this  dignity  one  who 
was  wicked  and  relentless.  If  a  man  will  be  wicked 
and  relentless  anyway,  and  an  occasion  arises  in  which 
by  exalting  such  a  man,  God  can  make  a  great  use  of 
him,  has  he  not  the  sovereign  right  to  do  so  ?  May 
not  God  even  cause  the  proud  heart  of  such  a  man  to 
be  hardened  against  all  fear  ?  For  what  good  would 
it  do  such  a  man  to  relent  from  mere  fright?  He 
would  be  as  wicked  at  heart  as  he  was  before.  No 
one  has  any  right  whatever  to  call  in  question  God's 
sovereign  right  to  choose  as  his  instrument  any  one 


Chapter  IX.  7,^^ 


whom  it  may  please  him  to  choose,  even  though  that 
chosen  instrument  be  a  very  bad  man.  And  this  is 
all  that  Paul  means  to  teach  by  this  quotation.  It  has 
no  bearing  at  all  on  the  question  as  to  how  Pharaoh 
originally  came  to  be  wicked ;  nor  does  it  follow  in 
the  remotest  degree  that  a  sovereign  who  "  suspends  " 
the  exercise  of  his  sovereignty  on  conditions  which 
depend  upon  the  acts  or  character  of  others  is  no  sov- 
ereign. It  only  implies  that  the  sovereign  God  is  a 
rational  sovereign ;  one  with  whom  there  is  neither 
variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning,  but  who  always 
acts  in  accordance  with  principles  fixed  eternally  in 
his  own  nature. 

V.  1 8.  Therefore,  Introducing  the  general  con- 
clusion from  verses  15,  16,  17.  This  verse  has  been 
sufficiently  explained  in  the  notes  on  the  three  preced- 
ing verses,  which  see. 

V.  19.  Thou  wilt  say.  The  Jewish  objector  is 
here  represented  as  asking,  Suppose  we  grant  that 
God  has  the  right  to  harden  us,  what  right  then  has  he 
to  find  fault  with  us  ?  His  will  was  to  harden  us,  and 
we  are  hardened,  and  so  we  have  not  resisted  his  will : 
what  right  then  has  he  to  blame  and  punish  us  for  be- 
ing what  he  himself  has  made  us  ? 

V.  20.  Nay,  but  O  man.  The  question  of  the 
Jew  implies  a  disposition  on  his  part  to  keep  up  a  de- 
bate with  God,  whereas  he  should  have  been  satisfied 
with  the  statement  already  made  of  God's  sovereign 
and  indisputable  right,  taking  men  as  he  found  them, 
to  use  them  as  he  pleased.  Paul's  reply,  therefore,  is 
of  the  nature  of  a  rebuke  to  this  spirit  of  the  Jew 


278         The  Epistle  to  the  Romaics. 


which  persists  in  calling  God  to  account  for  his  do- 
ings. The  answer,  couched  in  the  language  of  the 
Old  Testament  prophet  (Isa.  xlv.  9 ;  Ixiv.  8)  is  one  that 
becomes  a  sovereign.  The  Nay,  but  O  man,  etc.,  has 
in  it  a  touch  of  irony  ;  man  on  the  one  hand,  God  on 
the  other,  and  yet  the  former  daring  to  call  to  account 
the  latter ! 

But  the  answer  is  not  merely  a  rebuke ;  for  it  should 
be  observed  that  "  the  thing  formed  "—that  is,  "  the 
clay" — does  not  say  to  the  potter:  Why  didst  thou 
create  me  a  bad  quality  of  clay,  out  of  which  only  a 
vessel  of  dishonor  could  be  molded  ?  The  potter  had 
not  created  the  clay  bad  to  begin  with,  and  neither  the 
prophet  nor  the  Apostle  had  said  that  he  had.  Paul 
therefore  replies  by  asking  a  question  shaped  in  view 
of  the  fact  as  he  stated  it ;  Shall  the  clay  say  to  the 
potter.  Why  hast  thou  formed  me  into  a  vessel  of  dis- 
honor ?  The  question  obviously  admitted  of  two  an- 
swers, depending  entirely  upon  the  point  of  view:  i. 
Because  thou  art  bad  clay,  and  not  suitable  for  any 
other  kind  of  vessel.  But  this  answer  would  have  had 
no  bearing  upon  the  aspect  of  the  subject  which  Paul 
was  discussing.  2.  Because  it  is  my  sovereign  pleasure 
so  to  do.  Now  it  was  God's  absolute  right  to  make  such 
use,  or  disposition,  of  such  human  material  as  he  had, 
as  in  his  sovereig-n  pleasure  he  saw  fit.  that  Paul  is 
seeking  to  establish.  He  does  not  once  raise  the 
question  as  to  how  the  human  material  became  sfood 
or  bad  in  the  first  place  ;  but  hein^  .o-ood  or  bad.  he  in 
the  exercise  of  his  absohite  libertv  determines  what 
he  will  do  with  it.  Nor  is  it  a  valid  obiection  to  this 
view  of  these  verse.*?  to  sav  that  it  is  the  same  htmpof 
clay  that  is  made  into  vf^s«;f^1s  of  honor  and  dishonor. 
Both  vessels  were  made  of  clay,  that  is  true ;  but  Paul 


Chapter  IX.  279 


does  not  mean  that  both  were  made  of  identically  the 
same  particles  of  clay ;  nor  does  he  say  any  thing 
about  a  difference  of  quality  in  the  two  parts  of  the 
same  lump  which  were  formed  into  the  two  vessels 
respectively— and  for  the  obvious  reason,  as  we  have 
seen,  that  he  was  not  discussing  that  aspect  of  the 
subject.  Pharaoh  and  Moses  were  both  human  ma- 
terial ;  one  was  good  material,  the  other  was  bad ;  such 
as  they  were  God  used  them  as  he  pleased,  and  he 
used  both  wisely  and  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
eternal  principles  of  his  own  nature.  And  in  like 
manner  will  he  use  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles. 

Paul  nowhere  raises  the  question  of  the  metaphys- 
ical origin  of  sin  in  human  character;  he  nowhere 
asks  how  did  any  given  human  material,  as  Pharaoh 
or  Moses,  come  to  be  good  or  bad  material.  And  his 
only  contention  here  is,  not  to  make  or  create  material 
of  such  and  such  quality,  but,  finding  it  good  or  bad, 
to  use  it  as  he  will. 

V.  22-27.  In  the  preceding  verses  Paul  vindicated 
God's  absolute  right  to  use  good  and  bad  men  in  what- 
ever way  might  be  pleasing  to  him.  In  these  verses 
he  shows  that  although  God  has  this  absolute  right, 
his  actual  exercise  of  it  had  not  been  such  as  could  be 
called  unduly  rigorous  even  by  the  Jews.  The  reader 
in  applying  these  words  may  easily  pass  from  the 
Jews,  with  whom  Paul  is  reasoning,  to  the  case  of  any 
sinner.  God  exercises  great  long-suffering  toward  all 
sinners,  whom  he  has  the  unquestionable  right,  how- 
ever, to  cut  off  at  any  moment,  for  they  are  vessels  of 
•wrath  suited  for  destruction. 

V.  22.  What  if  God,  etc.    It  is  necessary  for  the 


28o         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

reader  to  observe  that  the  sentence,  which  ends  with 
the  close  of  verse  24,  is  really  incomplete.  The  idea 
is  this.  But  (or  now)  if  God,  although  willing  to  show 
his  wrath,  and  to  make  his  power  known,  endured 
with  much  long-suffering  the  obstinacy  and  disobe- 
dience of  the  wicked  men  who  were  so  worthy  of  de- 
struction, would  you,  in  this  case  make  any  further 
charge  against  his  justice?  And  if  you  were  told  that 
he  had  thus  borne  with  these  vessels  of  wrath  in  order 
that  he  might  make  known  the  riches  of  his  glory  on 
the  vessels  of  mercy,  which  he  had  afore  prepared 
unto  glory,  would  you  make  any  further  objection 
against  his  justice  ? 

The  vessels  of  wrath.  Simply  "vessels  of 
wrath;"  Pharaoh,  the  rebellious  people  of  Israel,  im- 
penitent sinners  generally. 

Pitted  for  destruction.  Observe  that  Paul  nei- 
ther says  nor  intimates  by  whom  they 'were  fitted. 
That  question  did  not  concern  his  argument,  and 
hence  he  does  not  raise  it.  Obviously,  however,  the 
human  vessel's  own  perverse  will,  obstinately  resist- 
ing God's  judgments  and  mercies,  fits  him,  or  more 
and  more  makes  him  the  prepared  object  of  destruc- 
tive wrath. 

Vessels  of  mercy.  The  opposite  of  vessels  of 
wrath ;  Moses,  for  example,  the  remnant  of  Jews  who 
continued  faithful  to  Jehovah,  any  penitent  and  be- 
lieving sinners. 

Which  he  had  afore  prepared  unto  glory. 
Not  the  final  glorification  of  ch.  viii.  30 ;  but  the  glo- 
rious manifestations  of  divine  love  which  God  makes 
to  the  vessels  of  mercy — his  Church ;  and  while  the 
Apostle  does  not  say  nor  intimate  that  it  is  God  who 
fits  the  vessels  of  wrath  for  destruction,  he  explicitly 


Chapter  IX.  381 


says  that  it  is  God  who  prepares  the  vessels  of  mercy. 
He  prepares  them  by  his  grace  and  various  provi- 
dences. Hence  there  is  no  thought  of  desert  or  merit 
on  the  part  of  these  vessels  of  mercy,  whereas  the  word 
"  fitted"  does,  as  we  have  seen,  imply  desert  on  the 
part  of  the  vessels  of  wrath.  The  one  experiences 
"  destruction  "  on  account  of  his  merits,  the  other  glo- 
rification in  spite  of  his  demerits. 

V.  24.  Mven  us.  This  verse  defines  who  are  meant 
by  the  vessels  of  mercy  of  the  preceding  verse ;  us, 
to  wit,  those  whom  he  hath  called,  whether  Jewish 
believers  or  Gentile.  The  call  of  which  the  Apostle 
speaks  is  presented  as  subsequent  to  the  preparation 
spoken  of  in  verse  23.  I  can  see  no  ground,  however, 
for  the  view  that  Paul  here  in  speaking  of  a  previous 
preparation  refers  even  remotely  to  the  foreknowledge 
and  predestination  of  ch.  viii.  29.  The  kingdom  was 
prepared  for  the  believer  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world  (Matt.  xxv.  34) ;  but  Paul  does  not  mean  here 
that  the  believer  was  in  the  divine  purpose  prepared 
for  the  kingdom  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
although  this  as  a  matter  of  fact  is  true.  What  he  re- 
fers to  here  is  an  historical  preparation,  one  that  occurs 
in  time  and  which  consists  in  divine  providences,  in- 
struction— whatever,  in  short,  directs  and  influences 
the  mind  toward  that  destination  which  God  has  in 
view  for  him  whom  he  is  preparing.  And  God  never 
calls  one  who  has  had  no  previous  preparation  there- 
for. The  preparation  enables  him  to  understand  the 
language  or  import  of  the  call.  God  does  not  call 
Jew  or  Gentile  from  his  old  faith  or  his  no  faith  into 
Christianity  without  a  previous  course  of  preparation 
which  enables  them  to  apprehend  and  appreciate  the 


282         Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  25 : — As  he  saith  also  in  Osee,  I  will  call  them  my  peoplCy 
which  were  not  my  people ;  and  her  beloved^  which  was  not 
beloved. 

V.  26 : — And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  in  the  place  where 
it  was  said  unto  than,  Ye  are  not  my  people  ;  there  shall  they 
be  called  the  children  of  the  living  God. 

V.  27 : — Esaias  also  crieth  concerning  Israel,  Though  the 
number  of  the  children  of  Israel  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  a 
remnant  shall  be  saved  : 

V.  28: — For  he  will  finish  the  work,  and  cut  it  short  in 
righteousness :  because  a  short  work  will  the  Lord  m.ake  upon 
the  earth. 

V.  29 : — And  as  Esaias  said  before.  Except  the  Lord  of  Sa- 
baoth  had  left  us  a  seed,  we  had  been  as  Sodoma,  and  been 
■made  like  unto  Gomorrah. 

call ;  and  this  preparation  continued  onward  becomes 
also  a  preparation  for  glorification.  Thej^  are  pre- 
pared, and  then  they  are  called  out,  and  then  they 
constitute  his  Church,  or  ecclesia. 

Vs.  25-29.  In  these  five  verses  Paul  quotes  the 
testimonj^  of  Old  Testament  prophecy  in  regard  to 
the  call  of  the  Gentiles  and  the  rejection  of  the  Jews. 
The  Jews  must  have  been,  of  course,  well  acquainted 
with  these  sayings  of  their  ancient  prophets,  but  as 
was  true  in  regard  to  many  other  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  they  had  read  them  only  through  the 
colored  lens  of  their  national  prejudice  and  self-right- 
eous pride.  Paul  quotes  them  according  to  their  true 
significance.  , 

Vs.  25,  26.  Osee,  The  Greek  mode  of  spelling 
Hosea;  see  Hos.  ii.  23.  Although  the  words  here 
quoted  were  originally  addressed  to  apostate  Israel, 
the  inspired  Apostle  applies  the  principle  which  they 


Chapter  IX.  283 


involve  to  the  Gentiles.  This  principle  is  that  while 
Israel  was  in  this  condition  of  aUenation,  or  of  not 
being  God's  people,  they  were  practically  the  same  as 
Gentiles ;  they  stood  on  precisely  the  same  level  in 
God's  sight,  so  that  whatever  might  be  said  to 
Israel  while  in  this  state  of  absolute  divorcement 
from  Jehovah  might  just  as  truly  be  said  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. Hence,  the  not  my  people,  or  the  not  beloved,  are 
regarded  by  Paul  as  Gentiles.  The  words,  therefore, 
easily  mean  that  the  Church  shall  be  enlarged  and 
extended  by  bringing  within  its  pale  a  hitherto  outly- 
ing and  unrecognized  material. 

V.  27.  Bsaias,  The  Greek  mode  of  spelling 
Isaiah;  see  Isa.  x.  22,  23.  In  these  words  Paul 
'•  passes  over  from  prophecies  applicable  to  the  call- 
ing of  the  Gentiles  to  others  concerning  the  exclusion 
of  all  but  a  believing  remnant  of  the  Jews."  (Gifford.) 
The  word  "  remnant  "  has  the  definite  article  in  the 
Greek.  The  meaning  is.  Though  the  number  of  the 
children  of  Israel  be  as  the  sands  of  the  sea,  only  the 
small  part  of  them— the  holy  or  believing  remnant- 
shall  be  saved ;  the  rest  shall  be  rejected.  The  words 
s/iall  be  saved  do  not  refer  primarily  to  the  eternal  des- 
tiny of  individual  Israelites,  but  to  the  destiny  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  Israelitish  people  in  respect  to  their 
covenant  relation  with  Jehovah;  they  shall  be  re- 
jected ;  they  shall  no  longer  constitute  his  Church. 

V.  28.  For.  The  reason  is  here  assigned  why  only 
the  faithful  remnant  shall  be  saved,  "  For  the  Lord 
will  execute  his  word  upon  the  earth,  finishing  and 
cutting  it  short,"  and  he  will  do  it  righteously,  inflict- 


284         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  30 :—  ]Vhat  shall  we  say  then  ?  That  the  Gentiles,  which 
Jollowed  not  after  righteousness^  have  attained  to  righteous- 
ness,  even  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith. 

V.  31  -.—But  Israel,  which  followed  after  the  law  of  right- 
eousness, hath  not  attained  to  the  law  of  righteousness. 

V.  32  :—  Wherefore  ?  Because  they  sought  it  not  by  faith, 
but  as  it  were  by  the  works  of  the  law.  For  they  stumbled  at 
the  stumblingstone  ; 

V.  33  \—As  it  is  written.  Behold,  I  lay  in  Sion  a  stumbling- 
stone  and  a  rock  of  offence :  and  whosoever  believeth  on  him 
shall  not  be  ashamed. 

ing  injustice  on  no  one.     But  lie  would  be  unjust  if 
he  did  not  do  it. 


V.  29.  As  Msaias  (Isaiah)  said  before.  See  Isa. 
i.  9.  The  Lord  of  Sabaoth.  The  Lord  of  hosts. 
The  word  seed  here  denotes  the  same  persons  as  tAe 
remnant  in  verse  27,  but  it  is  a  different  word  in  the 
Greek  and  also  in  the  original  of  Isaiah.  The 
prophet  used  the  word  saridh,  which  denotes,  not 
merely  a  small  part,  but  a  remnant  which  has  escaped 
slaughter  or  destruction.  The  Apostle  looks  upon 
this  saridh,  or  these  few  survivors,  as  a  sperma,  or 
seed,  from  which  shall  spring  up  another  multitude. 
Hence,  the  word  "seed"  is  suggestive  of  the  glorious 
future  which  awaits  the  Church,  composed  though  it 
was  of  only  a  few  who  had  escaped  rejection  and 
destruction.  In  the  overthrow  of  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah none  escaped  destruction,  and  the  cities  of  the 
plain  never  sprung  up  again  from  their  desolation. 

Vs.  30-33.  In  these  verses  Paul  states  the  true  con- 
clusion and  explanation  of  the  whole  matter:  If 
Israel's  rejection  is  not  due  to  the  faithlessness  or 


Chapter  IX.  285 


injustice  of  God  to  what  shall  we  say,  then,  it  is  due? 
It  is  due  to  this  :  It  is  due  to  Israel's  own  fault.  The 
Jews  have  not  attained  to  righteousness  in  God's 
sight  because,  although  they  followed  or  sought  after 
righteousness,  it  was  only  a  self-righteousness,  a 
righteousness  which  related  only  to  outward  works 
of  the  law,  and  which  based  its  claims  upon  God  only 
on  personal  merit.  Paul  prefaces  this  summary  state- 
ment of  the  true  explanation  of  the  matter  with  a 
hasty  reference  to  the  Gentiles  who,  on  the  contrary, 
had  attained  to  righteousness,  though  they  sought  it 
not  (as  the  Jews  had  done).  The  latter  missed  what 
they  sought,  the  former  obtained  what  they  sought 
not — "the  most  poignant  irony,"  Godet  calls  it,  "in 
the  whole  of  history." 

V.  30.  Which  followed  not  after  righteous- 
ness. The  righteousness  necessary  to  salvation ;  the 
Gentiles  had  not  made  a  study  and  special  pursuit  of 
righteousness  in  the  sense  of  justification  as  the  Jews 
had.  Have  attained  to  righteousness.  Because 
hearing  the  gospel,  and  having  no  false  pride  or  prej- 
udices against  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  grace 
through  faith,  they  readily  accepted  it. 

V.  31.  But  Israel,  which  followed  after  the 
law  of  righteousness.  The  Jews  made  it  a  mat- 
ter of  special  effort  and  pride  to  attain  to  righteous- 
ness before  God  solely  by  a  formal  obedience  of  the 
law.    The  Jew  failed ;  the  Gentile  did  not. 

V.  32.  Wherefore?  Why  did  the  Jews  fail?  In 
verse  31  Paul  states  the  fact  simply.  In  this  verse  he 
states  the  reason.     It  was  because  they  sought  right- 


286  ThK   BPISTI.E  TO  THE  ROMANS. 

eousness,  not  by  faith,  but  by  works,  as  if  righteous- 
ness could  be  attained  in  that  way ;  and  the  further 
fact  that  they  were  so  prejudiced  in  favor  of  this  way 
of  seeking  righteousness,  so  blinded,  as  to  cause  them 
to  stumble  over  Him  who  is  called  the  stone  of  stum- 
bling—" the  very  Messiah  whom  they  had  so  long  in- 
voked in  all  their  prayers"— the  very  Messiah  whom 
even  their  own  prophet  had  foretold  as  one  over  whom 
they  would  stumble. 

V.  33.  As  it  is  written.  See  Isa.  viii.  14 ;  xxvii. 
16.  See  also  the  same  application  to  Christ  in  I^uke 
ii.  34;  XX.  17,  18 ;  I  Peter  ii.  4-8.  Stumblingstone. 
He  who  strikes  against  or  opposes  the  Christ  breaks 
himself  and  not  this  Stone.  Rock  of  offence. 
Rock  of  falling.  The  Jews  stumbled  against  or 
struck  the  Stone,  and  fell,  and  hence  it  was  not  only 
a  stone  of  stumbling,  but  also  one  of  offence  or  fall- 
ing. Shall  not  be  ashamed.  Shall  not  fail  to 
obtain  the  salvation  which  Christ  brings. 

Was  it  quite  just  in  Paul  to  thus  charge  the  Jews 
with  want  of  faith  ?  Had  they  not  sought  righteous- 
ness in  the  only  way  they  knew?  In  answer,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  say  that  it  required  no  divinely  in- 
spired reader  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  to  see  that  the 
way  of  salvation  as  made  known  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  in  all  essential  respects  precisely  the  same 
as  the  way  which  Paul  had  expounded  in  his  preach- 
ing, and  was  now  expounding  in  this  epistle.  They 
might  have  known  this  as  well  as  Paul  and  the  other 
Jewish  apostles,  for  these  apostles  were  no  more  in- 
spired previous  to  their  conversion  to  Christianity 
than  were  the  other  Jews.  Hence,  the  Jews  were 
without  excuse.    And  hence,  although  Paul  has  so 


Chapter  X.  287 


strenuously  advocated  the  absolute  sovereignty  of 
Jehovah  in  this  chapter,  particularly  in  verses  15-21, 
this  can  by  no  means  be  so  construed  as  to  teach  that 
man  is  only  a  passive  and  irresponsible  instrument  in 
God's  hands;  for  we  see  that  in  these  last  verses 
(30-33)  the  very  point  which  Paul  wishes  to  make  is 
that  all  might  have  been  well  with  these  rejected 
Jews  had  it  not  been  for  themselves.  They  were  the 
party  on  whom  all  the  blame  must  rest.  If  this  is  not 
true  his  words  are  utterly  devoid  of  meaning.  The 
sin  of  the  Jews  was  the  want  of  what  Paul  calls  faith, 
and  for  this  lack  of  faith  they  themselves  were 
responsible.  If  they  were  not,  these  apparently  most 
serious  words  of  the  Apostle  are  nothing  but  idle 
vaporing. 

Israel's  Unbelief;    the  Gentiles'  Belief. 

(Chap.  X.) 

Or  the  rejection  of  Israel  and  the  calling  of  the 
Gentiles  explained,  not  in  its  relation  to  God's  sover- 
eignty, but  in  its  relation  to  the  faith  and  want  of 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  Gentiles  and  Israelites  respect- 
ively. There  is  no  fatalistic  decree.  The  gospel  is 
intended  equally  for  all;  for  salvation  in  its  very 
nature  depends,  on  its  human  side,  not  on  outward 
condition  or  circumstance,  but  on  the  faith,  the  char- 
acter, the  inward  attitude,  the  condition  of  heart,  of 
him  to  whom  it  is  offered.  Hence,  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  case,  it  is  to  be  preached  alike  to  ,Gentiles 
and  Jews— a  fact  to  which,  even  the  Jews'  greatest 
prophets  plainly  testify.  The  Church,  having  itself 
learned  the  truth,  must  be  either  a  missionary  Church, 
or  cease  to  be  the  Church. 


288  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  X.,  V.  I  : — Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  prayer  ia 
God  for  Israel  is,  that  they  might  be  saved. 

In  this  chapter  Paul  presents  more  fully  the  expla- 
nation of  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  and  the  calling  of 
the  Gentiles  already  briefly  stated,  ix.  30-33.  The 
chapter  maj^  be  divided  into  three  principal  sections — 

1.  Vs.  1-12.  Salvation  conditioned  on  the  **  right- 
eousness of  God,"  and  not  on  self-righteousness. 
Hence, 

2.  Vs.  13-18.  Jews  and  Gentiles  have  equal  claims 
to  it,  and  it  should  be  preached  alike  to  all. 

3.  Vs.  19-21.  The  attitude  of  Jews  and  Gentiles 
respectively  toward  the  gospel,  predicted  by  Old  Test- 
ament prophets. 

V.  I.  brethren.  Read  what  Paul  had  just  said 
of  the  Jews  in  verses  30-33  of  last  chapter.  He  here 
enters  more  at  length  upon  the  cause  of  their  fall,  but 
again  prefaces  what  he  has  to  say  on  this  painful  sub- 
ject with  an  expression  of  his  earnest  longing  for 
their  salvation.  He  calls  them  his  "brethren,"  re- 
minding them  that  he  still  regarded  himself  as  a  true 
Jew,  and  not  as  one  who  had  become  alienated  from 
them,  and  as  one  addressing  them  coldly  and  from 
afar  off.  As  was  his  custom,  he  tempers  rebuke  with 
tenderness.  His  language  throughout  plainly  shows 
that  rejection  of  the  Jews,  neither  as  individuals  nor 
as  a  people,  was  not  due  to  an  irrevocable  divine 
decree,  and  he  does  not  write  in  this  chapter  as  if  he 
thought  that  any  thing  which  he  said  in  chapter  ix. 
might  be  so  construed  by  them  as  to  cause  them  to 
think  that  they  were  to  any  extent  irresponsible  in  the 
matter. 


Chapter  X.  289 


V.  2: — For  I  bear  them  record  that  they  have  a  zeal  of 
Gody  but  7iot  according  to  knowledge. 

^.y.—For  they,  being  ignorant  of  God's  righteousness^ 
and  going  about  to  establish  their  own  righteousness ,  have 
not  submitted  themselves  unto  the  righteousness  of  God. 

Hearths  desire.  This  "  heart's  desire  "  of  Paul 
might  be  addressed  to  either  God  or  man,  but  being 
addressed  to  God  it  becomes  a  *'  prayer."  Might  he 
saved.  Might  as  individuals  and  as  a  people  accept 
Christ  as  the  Messiah  and  the  plan  of  salvation  pre- 
sented by  Paul  in  this  epistle. 

V.  2.  I  hear  them  record,  or  witness.  Paul, 
before  his  conversion,  had  had  an  intense  zeal  of  the 
same  kind.  See  Acts  xxii.  3.  Not  according  to 
knowledge.  The  Jews  were  a  very  religious  peo- 
ple, but  blinded  by  ignorance  and  prejudice ;  thus 
blinded,  they  manifested  their  religious  zeal  in  oppos- 
ing the  gospel  and  in  persecuting  the  Christians. 
But  religious  zeal  is  in  itself  a  good  quality,  and  it  is 
characteristic  of  Paul  not  to  overlook  whatever  is 
praiseworthy  in  those  with  whom  he  is  obliged  to  be 
at  issue  on  other  points. 

V.  3.  For  they  being  ignorant,  etc.  Being 
ignorant  of  God's  righteousness,  they  went  about  to 
establish  their  own  righteousness,  and  in  doing  this 
they  also  opposed  God's  righteousness;  and  hence 
the  zeal  which  they  did  have  was  not  according  to 
knowledge.  Ignorant  zeal  is  generally  accompanied 
by  prejudice  and  self-conceit,  and  hence  with  what- 
ever of  good  it  may  work  it  also  works  evil.  But 
this  "  ignorance "  on  the  part  of  the  Jews  was  in 
itself  a  criminal  ignorance  for  a  careful  study  of  their 
19 


290  The  EPIST1.K  TO  THE  Romans. 

V.  4 : — For  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness 
to  every  one  that  believeth. 

own  Scriptures  would  have  informed  them  that  what 
is  here  called  God's  righteousness  was  the  only  kind 
that  is  acceptable  to  God. 

God^s  righteousness.  The  same  as  that  men- 
tioned in  chapter  iii.  24-26  and  iv.  5.  Their  own 
righteousness.  The  righteousness  which  consisted 
in  their  strict  observance  of  the  law,  and  which  they 
thought  rendered  them  acceptable  to  God.  See 
Phil.  iii.  9. 

V.  4.  J^or  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for 
righteousness  to  every  one   that    believeth. 

That  is,  where  faith  in  Christ  begins  there  depend- 
ence upon  the  law  as  a  means  of  salvation  ceases. 
There  are  always  two  systems  or  plans  of  salvation — 
a  faith  system  and  a  law  system.  The  Jews,  like  all 
sinners,  preferred  the  law  system.  Christ,  or  the 
faith  system,  is  never  the  one  accepted,  only  as  a  last 
resort.  The  law  first ;  Christ  afterward,  the  law  hav- 
ing failed.  "  Nothing  in  my  hand  I  bring,  simply  to 
thy  cross  I  cling,"  is  the  song  of  the  soul  only  after 
it  has  found  every  thing  else  worthless.  Christ  is 
never  fotind  at  the  outset  because  it  is  not  he  who  is 
sought.  But  he  who  finds  Christ,  or  accepts  Christ, 
or  has  faith  in  him,  does  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  so 
doing,  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  law  in  so  far 
as  attaining  to  a  righteousness  which  is  valid  with 
God  is  concerned.  The  fact  that  the  Jews  did  not 
recognize  the  truth  of  what  Paul  here  says,  but  on 
the  contrary  endeavored  to  establish  their  own  right- 
eousness by  a   strict   obedience  particularly  to  the 


Chapter  X.  291 


V.  5 : — For  Moses  describeth  the  righteousness  which  is  of 
the  law.  That  the  man  which  doeth  those  things  shall  live  by 
them. 

V.  6: — But  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  speaketh  on 
this  wise.  Say  not  in  thine  heart,  who  shall  ascend  into 
heaven?  {that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  from  above:) 

V.  7 : — Or,  who  shall  descend  into  the  deep  ?  {that  is,  to 
bring  up  Christ  again  from  the  dead.) 

ceremonial  law,  is  a  proof  that  their  "zeal  for  God" 
was  not  **  according  to  knowledge." 

This  verse  therefore  does  not  mean,  ist,  That 
whereas  the  Mosaic  legal  system  was  once  the  true 
means  of  salvation,  Christ  now  is  the  true  means; 
for  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  system  had  never 
been  the  true  means  of  salvation  in  any  sense  differ- 
ent from  what  the  I^ord's-supper,  or  the  rite  of  bap- 
tism, now  is.  Nor  does  it  mean,  2d,  That  Christ  is 
the  aim  of  the  law,  in  the  sense  of  being  the  destina- 
tion to  which  the  law  would  lead  the  sinner — though 
this  is  the  meaning  of  Gal.  iii.  23-25.  Nor  does  it 
mean,  3d,  That  Christ  is  the  completion  or  fulfillment 
of  the  law,  either  in  the  sense  of  being  the  One  to 
whom  the  whole  Mosaic  system  looked,  or  in  the 
sense  that  the  law  exhausted  all  its  demands  upon 
Christ  and  therefore  can  not  any  longer  make  any 
demands  upon  me.  But  it  does  mean  that  the  accept- 
ance of  Christ  by  the  believer  puts  an  end  to  all  his 
legalistic  works,  or  efforts  to  obtain  salvation. 

Vs.  5,  6,  7.  In  these  verses  we  have  a  comparison 
of  the  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law  and  Christ 
or  the  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  (the  righteous- 
ness of  God).  The  latter  puts  an  end  to  the  former. 
But  we  should  bear  in  mind  that  Paul  here  speaks  of 


292  The  Episti^e  to  the  Romans. 

the  legal  righteousness  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
Pharisees  and  other  Jews  in  his  day  understood  it ;  in 
the  sense  in  which  he  himself  understood  it  before 
his  conversion.  It  was  a  righteousness  which  con- 
sisted merely  in  outward  obedience  to  legal  require- 
ments, unaccompanied  by  any  recognition  of  divine 
grace,  or  by  any  real  penitence  or  contrition  of  spirit, 
and  which  claimed  the  divine  favor  on  the  ground 
simply  of  personal  merit. 

It  was  the  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,  but 
not  this  Pharisaical  conception  of  it,  which  Moses 
had  described  (Lev.  xviii.  5)  when  he  said  that  "the 
man  which  doeth  those  things  [which  the  law  com- 
mands] shall  live."  (Lev.  xviii.  5-)  Bzekiel  and 
other  prophets  had  also  spoken  in  like  manner. 
(Hzek.  XX.  II,  13,  21;  Neh.  ix.  13-29.)  Paul  himself 
had  insisted  upon  the  same  truth  in  the  first  part  of 
this  epistle;  chapter  ii.  6-13. 

The  legal  righteousness  in  the  Pharisaical  sense 
was  indeed  worthless  and  offensive  in  God's  sight; 
but  the  legal  righteousness  in  the  sense  of  Moses  and 
the  prophets  was  not,  because  it  implied  a  humble 
and  contrite  spirit,  a  recognition  of  the  divine  grace 
and  of  constant  dependence  upon  God's  Spirit. 
(Psalms  li.  10,  11.)  He  who  thus  lived  always  had 
been  and  always  would  be  justified  in  God's  sight ; 
and  it  was  not  this  conception  of  justification  which 
Paul  was  seeking  to  displace  from  the  Jewish  mind. 
He  was  seeking  to  remove  that  erroneous  Pharisaical 
conception  above  mentioned,  which  rendered  the  law 
a  burden  which  no  man  could  bear,  and  which  made 
righteousness  a  thing  far  beyond  the  attainment  of 
any  man ;  and  this  Pharisaical  conception  of  right- 
eousness was  the  prevalent  one  among  the  Jews. 


Chapter  X.  293 


V.  8 : — But  what  saith  it  ?  The  word  is  nigh  thee^  even  in 
thy  mouthy  and  in  thy  heart :  that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  which 
we  preach  ; 

But  Christ,  who  is  God's  righteousness,  is  not  an 
impracticabiUty ;  he  is  not  unattainable ;  he  is  not  far 
away ;  no  one  has  to  ascend  into  heaven  or  descend 
into  the  deep  in  order  to  find  him;  he  is  near  at 
hand;  it  is  easy  to  be  saved  through  Christ.  Paul 
himself  had  experienced  both  the  hard  failure  of  the 
Pharisaical  legal  process  and  the  easy  reality  of  Christ, 
the  righteousness  of  God. 

V.  6.  The  righteousness  which  is  of  faith 
Speaketh,  This  righteousness  is  here  personified 
and  represented  as  speaking.  The  words  are  quoted 
from  Deut.  xxx.  12-14.  The  very  essence  of  the  right- 
eousness of  faith  is  in  him  who  loves  God  and  turns 
to  him  with  all  his  heart  and  soul.  Deut.  xxx. 
6-10.  He  who  thus  loves  and  turns  to  God  abandons 
self  and  all  self-righteous  claims ;  and  though  he  may 
not  know  the  historical  Christ  or  his  relation  to  the 
salvation  of  sinners,  yet  his  heart  is  not  such  as  would 
reject  him.  He  has  in  him  indeed  this  righteousness 
of  God  without  knowing  him  by  his  historical  name 
of  Christ. 

V.  8.  The  word  is  nigh  thee.  Notwithstanding 
the  nearness,  the  easy  practicability  of  the  true 
Mosaic  idea  of  the  righteousness  which  is  pleasing  to 
God,  the  Jews  in  perverting  it  had  made  it  a  thing 
afar  off..  The  Mosaic  word  was  the  same  in  its 
essence  as  "  the  word  of  faith"  which  Paul  preached, 
and  which  constitutes  the  doctrinal  substance  of  this 
Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


294         "^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  9: — That  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord 
JesuSy  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised 
him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved. 

V.  9.  That  if  thou  shalt  confess,  etc.  The 
language  of  this  verse  is  the  translation  into  the  lan- 
guage of  the  New  Testament  of  the  way  of  salvation 
as  described  by  Moses  in  Deuteronomy.  In  both 
there  is  to  be  a  confession^  an  outward  expression,  or 
doing ;  and  in  both  this  outward  confession  or  doing 
must  proceed  from  a  corresponding  inward  condition 
or  state  of  heart  or  character ;  in  both  Christ  was 
present,  though  in  the  Mosaic  time  he  was  known  as 
Jehovah,  and  in  the  New  Testament  as  the  Lord 
Jesus.  In  both  ^^  was  the  Savior ;  in  both  the  inward 
condition  of  heart  is  the  same,  though  called  in  the 
one  the  resurrection  unto  newness  of  life  and  the 
other  the  circumcision  of  heart.     Dent.  xxx.  6. 

Confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus.  Or, 
as  the  Revised  Version  has  it,  confess  with  thy  mouth 
fesus  as  Lord.  In  either  case  Jesus  can  not  be  one's 
actual  Savior  unless  he  be  also  recognized  as  one's 
Lord ;  but  this  confession  with  the  mouth  amounts  to 
nothing,  of  course,  unless  it  be  the  confession  of  the 
heart— that  is,  of  ourselves.  As  it  was  supremely 
essential  under  the  Mosaic  and  Old  Testament  dis- 
pensation to  acknowledge  Jehovah  as  God,  and  as  the 
true  God  and  only  God,  so  is  it  essential  for  the  same 
reason  under  the  New  Testament  dispensation  to 
acknowledge  Jesus  as  Lord.  The  latter  is  only  the 
New  Testament  aspect  of  the  same  truth. 

Believe  in  thine  heart.  To  believe  in  the  heart 
h  to  so  believe  any  thing  as  to  cause  the  belief  to  be 
the  supreme  motive  power  of  our  lives.     One  may 


Chapter  X.  295 


believe  a  thing  and  yet  his  life,  himself,  be  in  no  way 
affected  by  the  belief;  but  not  so  if  he  believes  it  "  in 
his  heart." 

That  God  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead. 

Why  did  not  Paul  say  that  we  must  believe  that  Jesus 
died  for  us,  or  for  our  sins  ?  Was  it  because  this  is 
not  a  necessary  belief?  No,  of  course  not.  So  far  as 
Paul  teaches  any  thing  on  the  subject,  the  life  and 
death  of  Jesus  on  earth  might  have  been  of  infinite 
value  in  God's  sight,  even  though  his  human  body 
had  never  been  raised  from  the  dead.  But  neither 
Jew  nor  any  other  man  could  have  deemed  his  life  or 
death  of  any  divine  value  unless  he  believed  in  the 
first  place  that  God  did  actually  raise  him  from 
the  dead.  As  a  man  may  really  be  the  authorized 
representative  of  his  government  at  a  foreign  court, 
and  yet  have  no  credentials  in  his  possession  as  proof 
of  the  fact ;  so  Jesus  would  really  have  been  all  that 
he  actually  was  and  still  is  even  though  his  human 
body  had  never  been  raised  as  it  was  from  the  dead. 
But  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile  would  ever  have  believed 
it,  and  hence  they  never  would  have  acknowledged 
him  as  their  divine  Lord;  and  hence  they  never 
would  have  accepted  his  teachings  as  authoritative; 
and  hence,  again,  they  never  would  have  accepted 
him  as  Savior ;  and  hence,  again,  he  and  all  that  he 
had  said  and  done,  would  soon  have  passed  out  of  the 
memory  of  men,  and  the  *'  righteousness  which  is  of 
faith "  would  have  been  no  more  accessible  to  man 
than  it  had  been  at  any  time  before  Jesus  was  born, 
and  "  life  and  immortality  "  would  have  been  just  as 
much  in  the  dark.  But  to  believe  with  the  heart  that 
God  had  raised  him  from  the  dead  implied  the  belief 
of  every  thing  else  concerning  him  that  was  essential. 


296         Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  10 :  —For  with  the  heaj't  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness; and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation. 

V.  II : — For  the  Scripture  saith,  Whosoever  believeth  on 
him,  shall  not  be  ashamed. 


V.  10.  jPor  with  the  hearty  etc.  This  is  the 
reason  or  ground  of  the  statement  in  verse  9  that  he 
who  thus  believed  and  confessed  should  be  saved. 
To  believe  "unto  righteousness"  was  to  have  such 
faith  as  constituted  one  righteous  in  God's  sight, 
though  ic  did  not  make  him  sinless.  Confession  is 
made  unto  salvation.  Salvation  in  this  verse 
differs  from  righteousness  or  justification  in  that  it 
comprehends  also  perseverance  in  the  Christian  life 
and  the  final  glorification.  To  "  confess  unto  salva- 
tion" is  to  publicly  acknowledge  Christ  as  our 
divine  Lord  and  Savior.  The  importance  of  doing 
this  is  often  urged  in  the  Scriptures.  Matt.  x.  32 ; 
Luke  xii.  8;  i  John  iv.  15;  Psalm  li.  14,  15,  To 
avow  one's  faith  strengthens  one  in  his  faith,  and 
places  all  his  influence  on  the  side  of  Christ.  The 
confession  should  be  continuous,  day  by  day,  and  not 
spasmodic  or  merely  occasional,  and  Paul's  statement 
here  implies  that  it  is  a  continuous  confession. 

V.  II.  F'or  the  Scripture  saith.  This  quotation 
from  the  Old  Testament,  from  which  Paul  so  often 
quotes,  is  the  proof  that  the  faith  and  confession  of 
verse  10  proceed  onward  unto  salvation.  See  Isaiah 
xxviii.  16.  Shall  not  be  ashamed.  Disappointed. 
But  this  quotation  is  not  a  proof  merely  of  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  righteousness  and  final  salvation  of 
those  who  have  this  faith ;  it  is  a  proof  also  of  its 
universality ;  it  belongs  to  all  who  believe. 


Chaptkr  X.  297 


V.  12 : — For  there  is  no  difference  between  the  Jew  and  the 
Greek :  for  the  same  Lord  over  all  is  rich  unto  all  that  call 
upon  him. 

V.  12.  For  there  is  no  difference,  Paul's  atten- 
tion also  fell  upon  the  word  whosoever.  Why  "  who- 
soever? "  Because  there  is  no  difference,  so  far  as  the 
offer  of  this  salvation  is  concerned,  between  men  ;  it 
is  provided  for  all  alike ;  all  men  have  the  same  Lord, 
whether  they  be  Jews  or  heathens,  or  whatever  their 
condition,  and  he  would  as  willingly  bestow  his  spir- 
itual gifts  upon  one  as  upon  another.  All  that 
any  one  has  to  do  is  to  call  upon  him.  To  all  such 
he  is  rich  in  his  bestowments.  He  who  is  here  called 
lyord  of  all  is  Christ.  See  Romans  xiv.  9 ;  Phil.  ii. 
1 1 ;  Acts  X.  36.  In  chapter  iii.  30  the  doctrine  of  the 
universal  offer  of  salvation  was  proved  on  the  ground 
that  the  God  of  one  man  is  the  God  of  all  men. 
Here  it  is  the  same  Christ  or  Lord.  As  there  are  not 
two  Gods  and  two  Christs  or  Lords,  so  there  are  not 
two  modes  of  dealing  with  men.  Salvation  by  grace 
through  faith  is  the  salvation  which  may  be  any 
man's  as  truly  as  it  may  be  any  other  man's.  In 
chapter  V.  12-21  the  same  doctrine  is  proved  on  the 
ground  of  the  oneness,  or  solidarity,  of  man ;  or,  in 
other  words,  on  the  ground  of  the  universality  of  sin. 
That  which  constitutes  one  man  a  7naii  constitutes 
every  one  a  man;  and  as  sin  may  be  affirmed  of  one, 
it  ma}^  be  affirmed  of  all ;  and  that  which  can  save 
one,  or  is  offered  to  one,  is  in  the  same  sense  offered 
to  the  whole  race  and  can  save  the  whole  race. 

V.  13.  For  whosoever.  To  prove  that  the  same 
Lord  of  all  is  rich  unto  all  who  call  upon  him  the 


298         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  13: — For  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  saved. 

V.  14 : — How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have 
not  believed?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom 
they  have  not  heard?  and  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher  ? 

V.  15  : — And  how  shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent?  as 
it  is  written,  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach 
the  gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things  ! 

Apostle  again  quotes  from  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  See 
Joel  ii.  32.  It  should  be  observed  that  Paul  does  not 
make  these  "  whosoevers "  of  the  Old  Testament 
mean  "whosoever  of  the  Jews,"  or  "whosoever  of 
the  elect  people,"  for  in  that  case  they  would  have 
been  no  proof  at  all  of  the  proposition  which  he  has 
in  mind.  The  prophet  means  and  the  apostle  means 
whosoever  of  all  vien  ;  for  the  very  thing  which  he  is 
here  aiming  to  do  is  to  show  to  the  Jews  that  they 
ought  not  to  feel  aggrieved  because  the  doctrine  of 
salvation  which  he  preaches  includes  all  men,  Gen- 
tiles as  well  as  Jews,  for  this  is  quite  in  harmony  with 
the  utterances  of  their  own  prophets  long  ago ;  and 
if  he  was  thus  in  accord  with  the  teachings  of  their 
Scriptures  why  should  they  censure  him  for  proclaim- 
ing this  salvation  to  the  Gentiles?  Should  not  they, 
the  Jews  themselves,  rather  encourage  him  heartily 
in  his  work  ?  For  how  shall  the}^  the  Gentiles,  call 
on  him  in  whom,  etc.     See  next  verses. 

Vs.  14,  15.  There  are  in  this  verse  and  the  first  of 
the  next  four  questions,  the  implied  answer  to  each 
of  which  is,  "  They  can  not  do  it."  And  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  whole  is,  Therefore  they  should  be  sent, 
in  order  that  they  may  preach,  in  order  that  those  ta 


Chapter  X.  299 


V.  16: — But  they  have  not  all  obeyed  the  gospel.  For 
Esaias  saith^  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our  report  f 

whom  they  are  sent  may  hear,  in  order  that  they  may 
believe,  in  order  that  they  may  call  upon  or  pray  to 
him.  Or  thus,  Prayer  is  the  result  of  faith,  faith  of 
hearing,  hearing  of  preaching,  preaching  of  send- 
ing. Therefore  preachers  should  be  sent ;  which  con- 
clusion is  confirmed  by  another  quotation  from  the 
Old  Testament  which  commends  with  joyful  gladness 
the  messengers  of  the  gospel.  See  Isaiah  lii.  7.  The 
one  who  does  the  sending  here  spoken  of  is  God,  not 
the  Church. 

The  two  expressions  to  "preach  the  gospel"  and 
to  "  bring  glad  tidings  "  are  the  same  words  both  in 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek— to  bring  glad  tidings  of 
peace,  to  bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things.  See  also 
Nahum  i.  15.  The  Jews  should  have  been  able  to  see, 
as  Paul  did,  the  complete  and  higher  fulfillment  of 
these  Old  Testament  prophecies,  not  in  the  return  of 
Israel  from  exile,  but  in  the  proclamation  of  the 
gospel  among  all  nations ;  and  instead  of  finding  fault 
with  Paul,  they  themselves  should  have  been  a  mis- 
sionary people.  But  they  were  so  blinded  by  self- 
righteousness  that  they  could  not  see.  They  had  un- 
derstandings, but  they  perceived  not. 

V.  16.  But  they  have   not  all   obeyed.     In 

strong  contrast  with  what  should  have  been  true  in 
regard  to  the  Jews  as  a  people,  Paul  states  what  act- 
ually is  true.  More  had  heard  the  gospel  than  had 
accepted  it;  and  the  Jewish  people,  the  ones  who 
should  have  accepted  it  most  gladly,  were  the  very 
ones  who  did  not.     Many  individual  Jews  did,  but 


300         The  BPISTI.E  to  thb  Romans. 

V.  17 : — So  then  faith  cometh  by  hearings  and  hearing  by 
the  word  of  God. 


Paul  is  here  speaking  of  them  as  a  nation.  He  does 
not  mention  the  Jews  by  name,  but  they  knew  well 
that  they  were  not  excluded  from  his  thought.  They 
knew  that  the  words  of  the  prophets  quoted  were 
spoken  primarily  of  their  own  nation.     Isaiah  liii.  i. 

The  fact  that  the  apostle  quotes  this  testimony  of 
the  prophet  shows  that  the  rejection  of  the  gospel  by 
the  Jewish  people  was  foreknown  of  course.  He  was 
not  surprised  at  the  antagonism  of  the  Jews  who 
lived  in  Gentile  countries  to  his  preaching.  But  as 
God's  foreknowledge  did  not  destroy  God's  sover- 
eignty, neither  did  his  foreknowledge  destroy  human 
liberty  and  responsibility.  If  it  destroyed  the  latter 
it  must  necessarily  destroy  the  ability  of  God  to  pre- 
vent the  foreknown  event  from  occurring.  Strictly 
speaking  these  various  time-words,  foreknowledge, 
fore-ordination,  etc.,  are  not  applicable  to  God ;  and 
when  the  Scriptures  use  them  of  God  they  speak 
"  after  the  manner  of  men,"  on  account  of  our  human 
weakness  and  limitations.  God  does  not  think  his 
thoughts,  or  perform  his  mental  acts,  one  at  a  time, 
but  all  at  once.  They  become  consecutive  only  when 
they  come  out  of  his  eternity  into  our  time. 

V.  17.  So  then,  etc.  The  Apostle  reverts  to  v.  14. 
And  hearing  by  the  word  of  God,  Faith  pro- 
ceeds out  of  hearing,  is  born  of  hearing ;  hearing  is 
produced  by  means  of  the  word  preached.  But  he  had 
said  that  all  did  not  have  faith  (v.  16) ;  and  in  the  next 
verse  he  asks  why,  or  rather  he  states  what  was  ru)t 
the  reason. 


Chapte:r  X.  301 


V.  i^:—But  I  say,  Have  they  not  heard?  Yes  verily,  their 
sound  went  into  all  the  earth,  and,  their  words  into  the  ends 
of  the  world. 

V.  \K^\—But  I  say,  Did  not  Israel  know?  First  Moses 
saith,  I  will  provoke  you  to  jealousy  by  them  that  are  no  peo- 
ple, and  by  a  foolish  nation  I  will  anger  you. 


V.  18.  But  I  say,  have  they  not  heard?    Did 

they  not  hear  ?  Yes,  verily.  The  fact  that  they  did 
not  accept  the  gospel  is  not  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
not  preached  to  them,  for  it  was  preached  to  them ; 
and  it  was  preached  to  them  not  only  in  Judea,  but  in 
all  parts  of  the  world  whither  they  (the  Jews)  have 
been  scattered ;  and  to  such  an  extent,  indeed,  as  to 
justify  applying  to  this  fact  the  words  of  the  Psalm- 
ist. The  words  of  the  preached  gospel  have  been 
sounded  in  all  the  earth,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world.     (Ps.  xix.  4.) 

V.  19.  But  I  say,  Did  not  Israel  know?    The 

Apostle  anticipates  another  excuse  which  the  Jews 
might  make  for  not  having  accepted  the  gospel.  Yes, 
say  they,  we  have  heard  the  gospel,  and  so  have  the 
Gentiles.  But  we  did  not  know  that  the  glad  tidings 
of  which  the  prophets  speak  were  to  be  proclaimed 
throughout  the  world  to  the  Gentiles  also ;  and  the 
very  fact  that  such  has  been  done  has  caused  us  to 
judge  the  gospel  adversely.  But  Paul  answers.  You 
surely  should  have  known  that  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
same  salvation  were  to  be  preached  not  only  to  the 
Jews  but  to  the  Gentiles  also,  for  there  is  explicit 
testimony  on  this  very  point  by  two  of  the  greatest 
prophets :  First,  Moses :  Did  not  he  say,  "  I  will  pro- 
voke you  to  jealousy  by  them  that  are  no  people?" 
Deut.   xxxii.    21.      Does  not   this    language   plainly 


302  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  20: — But  Esaias  is  very  bold,  and  saith,  I  was  found  of 
them  that  sought  me  not ;  I  was  m,ade  m^anifest  unto  them 
that  asked  not  after  me. 

imply  that  a  message  of  grace  should  be  proclaimed 
to  the  Gentiles,  and  that  Israel  would  be  affected  by- 
it  precisely  as  you  are  now  ?  If  God  should  have  so 
moved  ancient  Israel  by  his  graciousness  at  any  time 
toward  other  nations,  why  should  you  be  surprised  by 
his  graciousness  to  them  now?  Isaiah,  however, 
speaks  even  more  plainly,  words  which  should  have 
abundantly  prepared  you  for  what  is  just  now  occur- 
ring in  regard  to  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  to 
Jews  and  Gentiles  respectively. 

F'oolisb  nation.  Devoid  of  spiritual  understand- 
ing.    The  Jews  did  not  so  regard  themselves. 

V.  20.  But  Bsaias,  See  Isa.  Ixv.  i.  Is  very 
bold.  Is  very  plain  and  explicit.  It  required  much 
boldness,  however,  in  Isaiah's  day  to  enable  him  to 
speak  very  plainly  on  a  subject  in  regard  to  which 
the  kings  and  people  of  Israel  were  so  sensitive.  I 
was  found  of  them.  The  Gentiles.  They  had 
not  sought  the  gospel,  but  when  the  gospel  was  pre- 
sented to  them  many  of  them  accepted  it  even  more 
readily  than  the  Jews  to  whom  it  was  first  preached, 
and  who  were  a  people  of  such  avowed  and  strict 
religious  pretensions;  they  as  a  people  had  even 
rejected  the  gospel.  The  prophet  foresees  this  atti- 
tude of  the  Gentiles  to  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation 
which  was  preached  unto  them,  and  he  speaks  of  it 
as  a  fact  already  accomplished. 

V.  21.  But  to  Israel  he  saith.  Isa.  Ixv.  2.  But 
as    to    Israel,    or    concerning    Israel ;     in    contrast 


Chapter  X.  303 


V.  21: — But  to  Israel  he  saith.  All  day  long  I  have 
stretched  forth  7ny  hands  unto  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying 
people. 

with  what  was  said  of  the  Gentiles  in  the  preceding 
verse.  What  unwearied  love,  what  patience,  what 
long-suiFering,  God  had  ever  exercised  toward  the 
Jews,  his  chosen  people  !  And  they  were  still  unbe- 
lieving, disobedient,  gainsaying,  ever  calling  his  words 
and  doings  into  question.  Could  they  blame  him  if 
he  should  choose  another  people  in  their  stead  ?  Is  it 
true  that  those  with  whom  God  pleads  most  are  the 
ones  who  most  resist  him,  thus  making  his  very  love 
to  be  the  cause  of  a  greater  wrath?  (Matt.  xi. 
20-24.) 

Thk  Future:    The  Enigma  Soi^ved. 

(Chap.  XI.) 
In  setting  forth  the  historical  aspects  of  his  doctrine 
of  salvation  Paul  had  shown  in  chap.  ix.  that  the  ab- 
solute sovereignty  and  freedom  of  God  had  not  been 
placed  under  any  irrevocable  restrictions  by  the  cov- 
enant relation  into  which  he  had  entered  with  Israel ; 
but  that  God  retained  the  inalienable  right  to  deprive 
the  Jews  of  their  exclusive  privileges  and  to  choose 
for  himself  a  people  from  among  those  who  had  not 
hitherto  been  recognized  as  his  people ;  and  that  no 
man  should  dare  call  God  to  account  for  his  sovereign 
exercise  of  this  right.  But  while  the  source  of  all 
God's  actions  thus  lay  in  his  own  nature  or  sovereign 
will  (which  is  but  the  expression  of  his  nature),  Paul 
shows  in  chap.  x.  that  the  particular  direction  which 
the  exercise  of  the  divine  sovereignty  had  taken  in 
regard  to  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  respectively  was  due 


304  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

or  was  determined  on  their  part  by  the  unbelief  of  the- 
one  and  the  faith  of  the  other. 

In  the  chapter  now  before  us  the  Apostle  looks  to 
the  future  and  sees  the  solution  of  that  which  to  the 
Jew  was  so  great  an  enigma.  Some  of  the  Jews 
should  not  be  cast  away.  A  believing  remnant 
should  be  spared,  into  which  as  a  still  vital  stock, 
should  be  graffed  the  Gentile  wild  olive  branch.  But 
it  had  never  been  God's  intention  to  cast  away  Israel 
forever.  He  does  intend,  however,  to  so  overrule 
their  unbelief  as  to  facilitate  the  extension  of  the 
gospel  among  the  Gentiles,  and  ultimately  to  make 
the  conversion  of  the  latter  the  means  of  converting 
the  Jews.  This  fact  should  lead  the  Gentiles  to  exer- 
cise humility  and  fear  rather  than  boasting  or  exult- 
ation, lest  they  themselves  should  be  cast  away.  The 
Apostle  concludes  his  sketch  of  these  historical 
aspects  of  his  subject  with  an  expression  of  adoration 
to  Him  whose  wisdom  in  the  plan  and  conduct  of  the 
work  of  redemption  is  unsearchable,  of  whom,  and 
through  whom,  and  to  whom,  are  all  things,  and  to 
whom  be  glory  forever. 

This  chapter  may  be  divided  into  the  following 
parts : 

1.  Vs.  i-io.  Israel  not  totally  rejected,  a  remnant 
— "  the  election  " — shall  be  saved,  the  hardness  of  the 
"  rest,"  a  means  for  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles. 

2.  Vs.  11-32.  The  rejection  of  the  Jews  is  not 
final,  or  irrevocable.  They  did  not  stumble  in  order 
that  they  might  fall  forever.  As  through  the  stum- 
bling of  the  Jews  the  Gentiles  were  saved,  so  through 
the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles  shall  the  Jews  be  ulti^ 
mately  saved. 


Chapter  XI.  305 


Chap.  XI.,  V.  I : — I  say  then,  Hath  God  cast  away  his  people? 
God  forbid.  For  I  also  am  an  Israelite^  of  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham, of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin. 

3.  Vs.  33-36.  Praise  offered  to  God  for  his  plan  of 
salvation. 

V.  I.  J  say  then.  In  view  of  what  has  been  said 
in  chaps,  ix.  and  x.,  and  of  the  prophecies  quoted 
from  the  Old  Testament  at  the  close  of  the  last  chap- 
ter, is  it  to  be  inferred  that  God  has  cast  off  his  peo- 
ple totally  and  forever  ?  God  forbid.  By  no  means. 
The  very  form  of  the  question  in  the  original  Greek 
implies  a  negative  answer,  but  to  make  the  negative 
doubly  strong,  Paul  does  not  leave  it  with  a  mere  im- 
plication, but  expresses  it  plainly  and  strongly.  Sis 
people.  The  Jewish  people  as  a  whole,  and  not 
merely  the  believing  remnant.  God  had  not  utterly 
cast  away  his  people  either  as  a  whole  or  in  part,  for 
as  the  Apostle  shows  in  this  chapter  even  the  unbe- 
lieving majority  shall  ultimately  be  saved  through 
the  ministry  of  the  Gentiles.  The  Apostle,  however, 
speaks  first  01  the  remnant  who  are  saved  at  the  out- 
set, and  instances  himself  who  is  an  Israelite  of  gen- 
uine descent.  He  was  not  cast  away;  and  so  will 
God  not  cast  away  any  who,  like  him,  believe. 

The  word  also  which  Paul  here  uses  seems  to 
imply  that  he  meant  to  remind  his  readers  that  there 
were  other  believing  Jews  besides  himself,  and  that  he 
and  they  constitute  the  remnant  which  he  mentions 
directly.  Recognizing,  as  he  did,  the  existence  of 
this  remnant,  of  which  he  himself  was  one,  nothing 
that  he  had  hitherto  said  should  be  so  construed  by 
his  Jewish  opponent  as  to  make  him  teach  that  God 
was  casting  away  the  Jews  totally.  While  he  was  an 
20 


3o6  The  Epistle  to  the  R'omans. 

V.  2: — God  hath  not  cast  away  his  people  which  he  fore- 
knew. Wot  ye  not  what  the  Scripture  saith  of  Elias?  how 
he  maketh  intercession  to  God  against  Israel^  sayings 

Apostle  chiefly  to  the  Gentiles,  he  would  nevertheless 
neither  say  nor  imply  any  thing  that  might  diminish 
the  number  of  his  own  people  who  might  be  con- 
verted by  his  ministry.  Such  in  substance  is  the 
more  generally  received  view  of  Paul's  reference  to 
himself  in  this  verse,  and  it  seems  to  me  to  be  correct. 
Hence,  I  do  not  believe,  as  do  Meyer  and  some  others, 
that  the  Apostle  merely  meant  that  he  was  altogether 
too  good  a  Jew  to  believe  that  God  had  cast  away  his 
people,  for  if  it  had  been  true  he  surely  would  not 
have  been  too  good  a  Jew  to  believe  it. 

V.  2.  Which  he  foreknew.  Was  all  Israel  fore- 
known, or  only  the  remnant  ?  If  by  the  foreknown 
all  Israel  is  meant,  does  the  Apostle  refer  to  the  lit- 
eral or  to  the  spiritual  Israel  ?  Hodge,  following  Cal- 
vin, Luther,  and  others,  thinks  that  the  people  who 
are  here  spoken  of  as  foreknown  are  the  spiritual 
Israel.  Stuart,  Meyer,  and  others,  however,  think 
that  the  literal  Israel,  or  Jewish  nation  is  meant,  and 
this  view  is  undoubtedly  more  in  harmony  with  w^hat 
to  me  seems  to  be  the  whole  line  of  thought  of  the 
Apostle,  not  only  in  this  chapter  but  from  the  begin- 
ning of  chap.  ix.  He  is  speaking  throughout  of  the 
Jews  as  a  people  or  nation,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
the  Gentiles  as  a  people,  on  the  other  hand.  In  chap, 
viii.  29  the  foreknown  are  believers,  of  whatever 
nationality ;  but  here  the  foreknown  are  the  Jews  as  a 
people,  and  they  are  the  only  nation  whom  God  ever 
did  foreknow  and  elect  to  be  the  one  through  which 
be  would  realize  his  purpose  of  salvation.     "  The 


Chapter  XI.  307 


V.  3 : — Lordy  they  have  killed  thy  prophets,  and  digged 
down-  thine  altars ;  and  I  am  left  alone,  and  they  seek  my 
life. 

V.  4 : — But  what  saith  the  answer  of  God  unto  him  ?  I 
have  reserved  to  ynyself  seven  thousand  men,  who  have  not 
bowed  the  knee  to  the  image  of  Baal. 

V.  5: — Even  so  then  at  this  present  time  also  there  is  a 
refnnafit  according  to  the  election  of  grace. 

Israelites  contemporary  with  Jesus  might  reject  him; 
an  indefinite  series  of  generations  may  for  ages  perpet- 
uate this  fact  of  national  unbelief.  God  is  under  no 
pressure ;  time  can  stretch  out  as  long  as  he  pleases. 
He  will  add,  if  need  be,  ages  to  ages,  until  there  come 
at  length  the  generation  disposed  to  open  their  eyes 
and  freely  welcome  their  Messiah.  God  foreknew 
this  nation  as  believing  and  saved,  and  sooner  or  later 
they  can  not  fail  to  be  both."  (Godet.)  This,  to  say 
the  very  least,  is  the  hope  which  Paul's  words  war- 
rant, and  which  hope  shall  be  more  and  more  nearly 
realized  as  the  Gentiles  more  and  more  nearly  do  their 
whole  duty  toward  the  long  neglected  and  despised 
Jews. 

Wot  ye  not,  etc.  This  sentence,  in  the  Revised 
Version,  and  also  in  the  Greek,  begins  with  an  "  or." 
Or  wot  ye  not,  etc.  The  meaning  is :  Or,  if  j^ou  are 
not  yet  willing  to  accept  the  truth  of  my  statement, 
do  you  not  know  what  the  Scripture  saith,  etc.  ?  See 
I  Kings  xix.  10-18.  Elias,  The  Greek  form  of  the 
Hebrew  name  Elijah. 

V.  5.  A  remnant  according  to  the  election 
of  grace.  The  words,  "  election  of  grace,"  do  not 
refer  to  the  election  of  the  believing  individuals  who 
make  up  the  remnant.      Israel  as  a  nation  was  by 


3o8         The  BPISTI.E  to  the  Romans. 

V.  6  : — And  if  by  grace,  then  is  it  no  more  of  works :  oth- 
erwise grace  is  no  more  grace.  But  if  it  be  of  workSy  then  is. 
it  no  more  grace :  otherwise  work  is  no  more  work. 

God's  gracious  act  elected  or  chosen  to  be  his  people, 
his  Church,  the  recipient  of  his  revelations,  through 
whom  he  would  instruct  and  save  the  world ;  and  in 
accordance  with  this  fact  there  had  ever  been  in  the 
nation  a  number  of  individuals  making  in  the  aggre- 
gate several  thousands  who  were  true  and  faithful  to 
Jehovah.  It  was  so  in  the  dark  days  of  Elijah,  and 
of  Paul ;  it  would  ever  be  so,  and  the  Apostle  argues 
from  the  abiding  existence  in  the  nation  of  such  a 
remnant  that  God  has  not  irrevocably  rejected  the 
nation,  but  that  at  some  future  day,  in  God's  own 
good  time,  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  should  be 
brought  to  the  saving  recognition  of  Jesus  as  their 
true  Messiah.  And  it  is  this  ever-existing  believing 
remnant  which  is  here  spoken  of  as  ''according  to 
the  election  of  grace." 

V.  6.  And  if  by  grace,  then  it  is  no  more 
of  works.  If  the  election  of  Israel,  or  the  conse- 
quent preservation  of  the  faithful  remnant  was  an  act 
of  God's  free  grace  it  could  not  have  proceeded 
from  their  merits,  for  grace  and  merits  exclude 
each  the  other.  The  election  begun  in  grace  and 
continued  in  grace,  never  at  any  time  becoming  a 
matter  of  works  or  merit.  Grace  can  not  gradually 
cease  to  be  grace  and  become  works. 

But  why  should  the  second  half  of  the  verse  have 
been  added  by  the  Apostle  ?  It  is  easy  to  see  why  if 
he  was  aiming  to  show  simply  that  the  election  must 
be  a  matter  of  grace  alone  or  of  works  alone,  and  not 
a  matter  of  both.     But  this  is  not  what  he  is  aiming^ 


Chaptkr  XL  309 


V.  7 :—  What  then  f  Israel  hath  not  obtained  that  which  he 
seeketh  for ;  but  the  election  hath  obtained  it,  and  the  rest 
were  blinded 


to  show ;  it  is  rather  a  premise  of  another  argument 
which  Paul  makes  against  the  Jews'  favorite  doctrine 
of  merit  as  the  ground  of  their  claim  upon  the  divine 
favor.  To  say  that  works  or  merit  is  the  ground  of  it 
and  yet  call  it  grace  or  favor  is  a  contradiction  of 
terms,  for  if  one  bestows  upon  me  only  what  I  have 
earned  it  can  not  be  said  to  be  an  act  of  grace.  The 
thought  is  associated  in  the  Apostle's  mind  with  the 
word  election,  and  his  argument  briefly  stated  is  this : 

The  election  is  obliged  to  be  a  matter  either  of 
grace  or  merit ;  it  can  not  be  a  matter  of  both. 

It  is  not  a  matter  of  merit  or  works,  for  in  this  case 
the  thing  called  divine  grace  or  favor  becomes  a  non- 
entity. 

Conclusion:  Therefore,  it  is  a  matter  of  grace 
alone. 

It  is  proper  to  observe,  however,  that  the  clause  of 
the  verse  referring  to  works  is  omitted  by  some  of  the 
best  ancient  manuscripts  and  versions,  by  the  Revised 
English  Version,  and  by  the  most  eminent  recent 
critical  commentators.  Fritzsche  and  Reiche  defend 
its  genuineness.  But  the  sense  of  the  verse  is  essen- 
tially the  same  in  either  case. 

V.  7.  What  then  ?  What  conclusion  follows,  as 
to  the  present  state  of  the  Jews,  from  the  truths  just 
stated  ?  This  follows :  *'  Israel  hath  not  obtained  that 
which  he  seeketh  for,"  etc.  What  was  it  that  Israel 
sought?  Not  righteousness,  or  justification,  by 
works,  for  neither  the  election  or  chosen  believing 
remnant  obtained  this.    Nor  was  it  the  honor  of  being 


3IO         The  Kpistlk  to  the  Romans. 

V.  8: — {According  as  it  is  written^  God  hath  given  them 
the  spirit  of  slumber,  eyes  that  they  should  not  see,  and  ears 
that  they  should  not  hear  ;)  unto  this  day. 

the  Church  (as  Macknight  says)  after  having  been 
once  rejected  on  account  of  their  unbelief.  But  what 
Israel  as  a  people  or  nation  sought  was  simply  right- 
eousness or  justification,  and  the  reason  why  it  did 
not  obtain  it  was,  Israel  sought  it  by  works.  The 
election  or  believing  remnant  did  obtain  it  because  it 
sought  it  by  faith.  The  rest  were  blinded,  or,  as  the 
word  more  exactly  means,  hardened.  By  whom  were 
they  hardened?  God.  In  what  sense  and  to  what 
extent  had  God  hardened  them  ?  See  the  next  three 
verses. 

V.  8.  According  as  it  is  written.  Deut. 
xxix.  4;  Isa.  xxix.  9-1 1.  God  hath  given  them. 
That  is,  Israel.  The  spirit  of  slumber.  Of  deep 
sleep,  or,  as  others  prefer  to  render  it,  torpor,  or  stu- 
pefaction. God  destroyed  their  spiritual  sensibility, 
their  power  of  spiritual  discernment.  The  eye  of  the 
soul  was  paralyzed  so  that  it  could  no  longer  see. 
God  does  this,  not  vindictively,  not  arbitrarily,  but 
wisely  and  in  mercy,  "  when  he  wills  for  a  time  to 
give  over  a  man  who  perseveres  in  resisting  him  to  a 
blindness  such  that  he  punishes  himself,  as  it  were, 
with  his  own  hand,"  and  is  thus,  it  may  be,  brought 
to  repentance.  See  Matt.  xiii.  14,  15 ;  John  xii.  40. 
From  him  that  hath  the  power  of  discerning  the 
truth  and  does  not  use  it  shall  be  taken  away  even 
that  which  he  hath,  until  excess  of  sin  becomes 
excess  of  misery,  and  the  sinner  is  caused,  peradvent- 
ure,  to  turn  about. 


Chapter  XI.  311 

V.  9  :—And  David  saith,  Let  their  table  be  made  a  snare, 
and  a  trap,  and  a  stumbling  block,  and  a  recompense  unto 
them  : 


V.  9.  And  David  saith,  Ps.  Ixix.  22,  23.  Let 
their  table  he  made  a  snare,  etc.  As,  for  in- 
stance, let  them  think  that  they  are  drinking  choice 
wine,  whereas  they  are  swallowing  a  drug  that  strikes 
them  with  stupefaction.  In  offering  this  prayer 
the  Psalmist  had  in  mind  the  enemies  of  God's  Church 
and  cause,  of  which  he  himself  was  the  represent- 
ative. We  can  not  pray  for  the  prosperity  of  this 
cause  without  praying  for  the  adversity  of  its  enemies 
— the  crushing  of  the  serpent's  head  and  all  the  sei- 
pent's  seed.  In  the  Psalmist's  day  these  enemies 
were  regarded  as  those  who  were  arrayed  against 
the  theocracy  or  Church  in  David's  time.  In  the 
Apostle's  time  these  enemies  included  even  the  mass 
of  the  Jewish  people  themselves,  who  had  set  them- 
selves in  array  against  the  gospel.  Hence,  the  Apos- 
tle does  no  violence  to  the  spirit  or  intent  of  the 
Psalmist's  prayer  when  he  applies  it  to  the  Jews,  they 
being  no  less  truly  enemies  than  were  those  whom  the 
Psalmist  had  immediately  in  mind. 

A  trap.  "  A  wild  beast  grasps  at  food  and  falls  in- 
to a  trap."  So  may  the  enemies  of  Thee,  in  careless 
ease  and  prosperity,  be  ensnared  as  to  their  hearts. 

A  stumblingblock.  Let  their  material  prosper- 
ity be  that  over  which  they  stumble  and  hurt  them- 
selves. A  recompense.  A  punishment.  Is  it  not 
true  that  one's  greatest  prosperity  and  apparent  peace 
may  become  in  God's  hands  the  means  of  severest 
punishment,  and  thus  of  bringing  the  sinner  to  re- 
pentance? 


312  Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  lo : — Let  their  eyes  be  darkened,  that  they  may  not  see^ 
and  bow  down  their  back  alway. 

V.  II : — I  say  then,  Have  they  stumbled  that  they  should 
fall?  God  forbid :  but  rather  through  their  fall  salvation 
is  come  unto  the  Gentiles,  for  to  provoke  them,  to  jealousy. 

V.  lo.  Let  their  eyes  he  darkened,  Ps.  Ixix. 
23.  Bow  down  their  hack  alway.  As  if  in  deep 
dejection.  The  spirit  or  sense  of  this  verse  is  the 
same  as  the  preceding.  The  words  have  been  fulfilled 
in  the  case  of  the  Jews  as  a  people,  for  their  backs 
have  long  been  bowed  down  in  deep  dejection. 

The  Apostle  makes  the  quotations  from  the  Old 
Testament  not  word  for  word,  but  giving  simply  the 
sense  of  the  Hebrew.  In  some  instances  he  quotes 
not  the  Hebrew  but  the  Greek  version,  as  in  this 
verse. 

V.  11-15.  Having  shown  the  fulfillment  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophecy  in  the  hardening  of  the  mass  of  the 
Jewish  people ;  and  having  also  shown  that  although 
God  did  the  hardening,  he  did  it  because  of  their  per- 
sistent unbelief;  the  Apostle  now  proceeds  to  show 
that  the  purpose  which  God  has  in  view  in  this  pun- 
ishment is,  not  the  irrevocable  rejection  of  the  Jews, 
but  the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles  and  ultimately  of  the 
Jews  also. 

V.  II.  I  say  then,  have  they  stumhled  that 
they  should  fall?  Have  the  Jews  stumbled  at 
Christ,  and  is  it  the  divine  purpose  in  their  stumbling 
that  they  should  fall  forever  under  the  condemnation 
of  God?  "  By  no  means,"  answers  the  Apostle,  "  is 
this  the  purpose  or  end  which  God  has  in  view  in  their 
stumbling."    And  then  he  proceeds  in  this  and  the 


Chapter  XL  313 


following  three  verses  to  point  out  the  two  ends  which 
God  does  have  in  view  ;  i.  The  salvation  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, 2.  The  final  restoration  of  the  Jews  themselves. 
Through  their  fall  salvation  is  come  to  the 
Gentiles,  The  word  "fall"  here  is  not  the  same 
Greek  word  as  in  the  first  part  of  the  verse,  and  does 
not  express  quite  the  same  idea.  The  Apostle  does 
not  of  course  mean  to  deny  that  the  Jews  fell,  and 
then  immediately  to  affirm  it.  The  word  in  the  sec- 
ond clause  means  a  trespass  or  offense,  such  as  the 
Jews  were  guilty  of  in  stumbling  at  Christ,  the  Stone 
of  stumbling  and  the  Rock  of  offense.  Chapter  ix.  32, 
33.  The  word  "  fall "  in  the  first  part  of  the  verse  de- 
notes the  fall  which  follows  when  one  stumbles  or 
strikes  his  foot  against  an  obstacle,  and  carries  with 
it  here  the  idea  of  permanent  prostration.  The  Jews 
did  indeed  not  only  stumble,  they  also  fell — that  is, 
they  were  rejected  as  God's  chosen  nation.  But  it  was 
not  God's  purpose  that  they  should  fall  in  such  way 
as  to  remain  prostrate  forever. 

Nor  does  the  Apostle  mean  that  God  in  any  way 
forced  Israel  either  to  stumble  or  to  fall.  The  well- 
known  historical  facts,  and  tlie  character  of  God  as 
recognized  both  by  Paul  and  the  Jews,  were  obviously 
against  any  such  meaning.  God  may  have  a  purpose 
in  view  in  regard  to  any  event  without  himself  being 
the  morally  responsible  cause  of  that  event.  He  did 
not  cause  Israel  to  reject  Christ,  but  he  had  one  or 
more  purposes  in  view  which  he  would  accomplish  by 
this  act  of  Israel.  Had  the  Jews  laid  aside  their  prej- 
udices, and  their  self-righteousness,  and  accepted  the 
righteousness  of  God  which  is  by  faith,  they  would 
have  become  the  willing  instruments  in  the  spread  of 
the  de-Judaized  gospel  among  all  nations,  and  all  na- 


314  The  Epistlk  to  thk  Romans. 

V.  12  : — Now  if  the  fall  of  them  be  the  riches  of  the  world,, 
and  the  diminishing  of  them  the  riches  of  the  Gentiles ;  how 
much  more  their  fulness  ? 

tions,  including  the  Jews,  would  have  become  one  na- 
tion in  Christ — God's  one  people.  But  as  the  Jews 
would  not  do  this,  and  as  the  gospel  must  spread 
abroad  whether  or  not,  the  honor  of  being  any  longer 
God's  chosen  people  must  pass  from  them,  and  even 
their  hostility  to  the  gospel  is  divinely  utilized  to  the 
more  rapid  progress  of  the  gospel  among  the  nations. 
The  more  the  Jews  oppose  it  the  more  rapidly  and  ex- 
tensively did  it  scatter  abroad  from  Jerusalem,  and  the 
more  it  was  divested  of  the  Jewish  element  the  more 
acceptable  would  it  be  to  the  Jew-hating  Gentile. 
While,  therefore,  God  did  not  cause  the  Jews'  unbelief, 
thus  did  he  in  the  first  place  purpose  to  overrule  that 
unbelief. 

To  provoke  them  to  jealousy.  God's  purpose 
was,  in  the  second  place,  to  provoke  the  Jews  to  jeal- 
ousy, to  awaken  their  ancient  love,  and  thus  recover 
them  to  himself.  He  was  acting  toward  them  in  love 
and  mercy,  and  not  with  a  view  to  their  final  ruin. 

V.  12.  The  fall  of  them.  The  trespass,  or  of- 
fense, of  Israel  as  a  nation.  The  riches  of  the 
world,  "  The  state  of  grace  into  which  the  Gentiles 
are  introduced  by  faith  in  a  free  salvation."  The 
diminution  of  them.  The  true  Israel  was  greatly 
reduced  in  number  by  the  rejection  of  the  mass  of  the 
Jewish  nation  on  account  of  unbelief.  The  riches 
of  the  Gentiles.  Though  the  Jewish  nation  was 
greatly  diminished  by  the  casting  away  of  the  unbe- 
lieving portion,  this  nation,  regarded  as  the  Churchy 


Chapter  XI.  315 


V.  13  : — For  I  speak  to  you  Gentiles,  inasmuch  as  I  am  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  I  magnify  mine  office : 

V.  14 : — If  by  any  means  I  may  provoke  to  emulation  them 
which  are  my  flesh,  and  might  save  some  of  them. 

was  greatly  increased  by  the  incorporation  into  it  of 
many  believing  Gentile  peoples  who  were  thereby  en- 
riched with  the  riches  of  grace.  Their  fullness. 
The  whole  body  of  Jewish  people.  If  God  could  so 
overrule  the  unbelief  of  the  many  Jews  and  the  faith 
of  the  few  for  the  good  of  the  other  nations,  how  much 
more  rapidly  and  widely  shall  the  gospel  extend  its 
dominion  over  the  hearts  and  lives  of  men  every- 
where as  the  number  of  believing  Israel  is  increased. 

V.  13.  I  speak  to  you  Gentiles,  Paul  was  writ- 
ing in  large  part  to  Gentile  readers,  and  he  writes  in 
this  chapter  on  the  future  restoration  of  the  Jews — a 
subject  which  should  still  be  one  of  very  great  in- 
terest to  the  Gentiles,  for  to  the  Jews  they  owe  an 
evangelical  debt  which  they  can  never  fully  repay. 

I  magnify  mine  oiBce,  Paul's  office  was  that 
of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  but  in  writing  about 
and  laboring  for  the  salvation  of  the  Jews,  he  was 
magnifying  his  office,  he  was  true  to  its  proper  func- 
tions; for  in  laboring  for  the  salvation  of  the  Jews 
he  was  also  therein  laboring  for  the  welfare  of  the 
Gentiles,  for  he  had  just  said  that  great  good  would 
accrue  to  all  Gentiles  from  the  conversion  of  the 
Jews.  Hence,  he  could  not  be  accused  of  departing 
from  his  duties  as  an  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  in  labor- 
ing also  for  the  conversion  of  Israel. 

V.  14.  If  by  any  means.  That  is,  I  speak  to 
you  Gentiles,  if  by  any  means  I   may .  provoke   or 


3i6         The  Episti^e  to  the  Romans. 


V.  15  : — For  if  the  casting  away  of  them  be  the  reconciling 
of  the  world,  what  shall  the  receiving  of  them  be,  but  life 
from  the  dead  f 

Stimulate  to  emulation,  etc.  Emulation.  The  same 
word  translated  "jealousy"  in  verse  11;  also  ren- 
dered jealousy  in  this  verse  by  the  Revised  Version. 
The  Greek  word  means  both,  jealousy  being  rather 
the  inward  feeling  of  which  emulation  is  the  outward 
expression.  My  flesh.  My  fellow  Jews.  What  Paul 
as  a  Jew  wished  to  do  was  to  stimulate  his  fellow 
countrymen  to  accept  the  gospel  by  making  them  see 
that  the  Gentiles,  the  outsiders,  would  come  in  and 
get  all  the  divine  blessing  and  they  themselves  none 
unless  they  bestirred  themselves.  What  he  as  an 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles  wished  to  do  was  to  make  the 
conversion  of  the  Jews  the  means  of  a  yet  more 
world-wide  blessing  to  the  Gentile.  In  his  twofold 
capacity,  therefore,  of  Jew  and  apostle  his  large  heart 
and  large  effort  sought  the  salvation  of  all  men.  So 
with  the  minister  of  the  gospel  to-day,  so  with  every 
Christian ;  he  may  be  an  American,  but  he  is  also  an 
apostle,  and  whether  in  the  one  capacity  or  the  other 
his  longing  and  his  effort  must  embrace  also  the 
nations  afar  off. 

Some  of  tbem.  Sad  words.  Even  Paul,  the 
man  of  limitless  heart,  could  hope  for  the  salvation 
of  only  a  comparatively  small  part  of  his  fellow  Jews, 
the  most  favored  of  people. 

V.  15.  The  casting  away  of  them.  The  cessa- 
tion, or  refusal,  on  God's  part,  any  longer  to  recognize 
the  Jewish  nation  as  his  people.  The  receiving 
of  them.    The  acceptance  of  them  again  by  God  as 


Chapter  XL  317 


his  people  on  account  of  their  acceptance  of  the 
gospel  which  they  once  and  so  long  rejected.  I/ife 
from  the  dead.  Not  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
as  some  eminent  commentators  strangely  think ;  but, 
simply  a  wonderful  and  glorious  event,  and  of  great 
and  world-wide  benefit  to  the  Gentiles.  Such,  in 
substance,  the  majority  of  commentators.  If  the  re- 
jection of  the  Jewish  people  on  account  of  their 
unbelief  and  rejection  of  Christ  should  be  so  over- 
ruled as  to  be  a  great  blessing  to  the  Gentiles,  how 
much  greater  blessing  may  be  looked  for  when  this 
long  unbelieving  people  shall  accept  Christ?  If  a 
people's  curse  can  be  so  great  a  blessing,  what  will 
the  same  people  blessed  be  ?  Such  will  be  the  uni- 
versal spiritual  quickening  that  it  can  be  compared  to 
nothing  but  a  life  from  the  dead,  and  hence  it  is  here 
figuratively  so  called.  The  apostle  now  goes  on  to 
show, 

(i)  That  this  future  glorious  restoration  of  the  Jews 
is  in  itself  very  probable  because  it  is  in  accordance 
with  their  original  consecration  or  sacred  (not  sinless) 
character  as  a  people.     (Verse  16.) 

(2)  That  this  fact  should  awaken  in  the  Gentiles  "  a 
feeling  of  profound  regard  for  Israel" — (Vs.  17,  18),  a 
caution  of  which  Gentile  Christendom  has  ever  been, 
and  is  yet,  only  too  unmindful. 

(3)  That  the  same  fact  should  also  inspire  the  Gen- 
tiles with  a  feeling  of  humility  and  watchfulness  lest 
God  who  spared  not  Israel  on  account  of  unbelief 
might  also  reject  them— the  Gentiles— on  account  of 
proud  boasting.     (Vs.  19-21.) 

V.  16.  If  the  £rst'frait  A  figurative  expression 
denoting  the  Israelitish  nation  in  its  very  beginning 


3i8         The  Episti^k  to  the  Romans. 

V.  i6  '.—For  if  the  Jirstfruit  be  holy,  the  lump  is  also  holy : 
und  if  the  root  be  holy,  so  are  the  branches. 

V.  17  -.—And  if  some  of  the  branches  be  broken  off,  and  thou, 
being  a  wild  olive  tree,  wert  graffed  in  among  them,  and  with 
them  partakest  of  the  root  and  fatness  of  the  olive  tree  ; 


in  Abraham  and  the  patriarchs.  In  the  consecration 
to  God  of  the  first-fruit  of  the  harvest  the  whole  har- 
vest was  consecrated.  In  the  consecration  of  the  first- 
born all  subsequent  offsprings  were  consecrated. 
Whatever  may  be  afiirmed  of  the  root  may  also  be 
afiSrmed  of  the  branches,  for  from  the  former  the  lat- 
ter derive  their  quality.  So  the  fact  that  Israel  in  its 
origin  was  sacred  to  God  renders  it  only  the  more 
probable  in  itself  that  it  will  be  so  in  its  future  gen- 
erations. No  people  has  ever  stood  in  such  a  relation 
to  God  as  the  Jews  even  still  sustain  toward  him. 

V.  17.  And  thovL.  The  individual  Gentile  reader. 
A  wild  olive  tree.  The  Gentile  world  is  the  wild 
olive  tree ;  the  individual  Gentile  believer  is  the  graft 
which  the  Gentile  wild  olive  tree  furnishes  to  the  true 
Church  which  is  here  also  personified  as  a  tree  of 
which  Abraham  and  the  other  patriarchs  are  the  roots. 
The  dead  or  fruitless  branches  broken  off  from  this 
tree  are  the  individual  unbelieving  Jews  who  consti- 
tuted the  mass  of  the  nation.  Among  them.  Lit- 
erally, in  them.  The  Gentile  branches  were  graffed 
either  in  the  stumps  left  from  the  broken-off  Jewish 
branches,  or  among  the  Jewish  branches  which  were 
left  on  the  tree.  In  either  case  the  graffed  branches 
of  the  wild  olive  became  partakers  of  the  fruit-pro- 
ducing sap  of  the  true  olive  tree — the  true  Church. 
Paul's  reasoning  here  plainly  implies  the  essential 


Chaptkr  XI.  319 


V.  18 : — Boast  not  against  the  branches.  But  if  thou  boast ^ 
thou  bearest  not  the  root,  but  the  root  thee. 

V.  i^:  —  Thou  Witt  say  then,  The  branches  were  broken  off, 
that  I  might  be  graffed  in. 

V.  20: — Well;  because  of  unbelief  they  were  broken  off, 
and  thou  standest  by  faith.     Be  not  high^nifided,  but  fear. 

identity  of  the  Church  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments ;  and  hence  it  proves  plainly  that  Paul's  concep- 
tion of  the  Church  was  not  that  of  something  distinct 
from  and  antagonistic  to  Israel.  He  was  nearer  to  Is- 
rael than  the  Jews  themselves  were. 

V.  18.  Boast  not  against  the  branches.  Glory 
not  over,  despise  not,  the  cast-off  Jews.  If  Gentile 
Christendom,  however,  has  not  for  centuries  gloried 
over  the  cast  off  Jew,  it  has  nevertheless  sadly  neg- 
lected and  ill-treated  him.  But  if  thou  boast.  If 
thou  gloriest,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  you  Gentiles 
owe  your  salvation  to  the  Jews,  and  not  conversely. 
If  there  had  not  been  a  Jewish  stock,  a  true  Church 
in  Jewish  germ,  into  which  you  could  be  graffed,  it 
would  have  been  sad  for  you.  If  you  glory  over  the 
Jews  you  glory  in  the  face  of  this  fact. 

V.  19.  Thou  wilt  say  then.  Thou  Gentile  wilt 
say  then,  that  is  in  view  of  the  statement  (verse  17), 
that  the  Jewish  branches  were  broken  off,  that  it  was 
done  solely  in  order  that  we  Gentiles  might  be  graffed 
in.  In  saying  "  I,"  in  this  verse,  the  Gentile  speaker 
represents  not  only  himself  but  all  other  Gentile 
graffs. 

V.  20.  Well,  Well ;  suppose  they  were  broken  off 
in  order  that  you  Gentiles  might  be  graffed  in ;  sup- 


320         The  Episti^e  to  the  Romans. 

V.  21  -.—For  if  God  spared  not  the  natural  branches^  take 
heed  lest  he  also  spare  not  thee. 

V.  22  '.—Behold  therefore  the  goodness  and  severity  of  God: 
on  them  which  fell,  severity ;  but  toward  thee,  goodness,  if 
thou  continue  in  his  goodness:  otherwise  thou  also  shall  be 
cut  off. 

pose  that  was  a  purpose  which  God  had  in  view ;  it  is 
nevertheless  true  that  they  would  not  have  been 
broken  off  had  it  not  been  for  their  unbelief;  and  it  is 
also  true  that  you  do  not  remain  in  as  graffs  because 
of  any  unconditional  favoritism  toward  you  on  the 
part  of  God ;  you  stand  by  your  faith,  just  as  they 
fell  by  their  want  of  it.  Be  not  high  minded. 
Do  not  exalt  yourselves,  but  rather  fear,  take  heed^ 
lest  you  yourselves  fall  even  as  did  the  unbelieving 
Jews.  Some  of  the  Gentile  Churches  of  Asia  Minor 
were  rejected  of  God  in  a  sense  no  less  true  than  were 
the  Jews  themselves.     (Rev.  ii.  iii.) 

V.  2  J.  F'or,  The  reason  for  the  caution  at  the  close 
of  verse  20.  I^est  he  also  spare  not  thee.  Nei- 
ther will  he  spare  thee.  The  Revised  Version,  and 
the  now  generally  accepted  Greek  text  adopts  the 
reading  "  neither  "  instead  of  "  lest,"  **  not."  In  either 
case  a  real  danger  is  pointed  to  that  the  Gentiles  in 
the  future  might  experience  the  same  awful  rejection 
which  the  Jews  had  brought  upon  themselves. 

V.  22.  Behold,  Paul  is  still  addressing  the  Gen- 
tile  reader.     Goodness   and   severity  of  God. 

Goodness  toward  the  believing  Gentiles,  severity  to- 
ward the  unbelieving  Jews.  "  The  Apostle  with  mas- 
terly skill  sets  both  sides  of  the  case  at  once  before 
his  readers,  that  goodness  and  severity,  seen  side  by 


Chapter  XI.  321 


V.  23  \—And  they  also,  if  they  abide  not  still  in  unbelief 
shall  be  graffed  in :  for  God  is  able  to  graff  them  in  again. 

side,  may  stir  both  love  and  fear. ' '  (Gifford)  Which 
fell.  The  Jewish  nation  which  by  unbelief  stumbled 
over  Christ  and  fell.  Toward  thee.  The  Gentile 
Christians.  If  thou  continue.  They  might  for- 
feit  God's  goodness,  causing  it  to  cease  toward  them, 
turning  it  into  severity,  by  abandoning  their  faith,  by 
being  high-minded,  by  not  taking  heed.  To  continue 
in  the  faith,  to  be  humble-minded,  to  be  watchful,  is  to 
continue  in  God's  goodness.  Paul  is  not  speaking 
here  of  the  cutting  off  and  final  rejection  of  individ- 
uals, but  of  the  Gentile  portion  of  the  Church  on  con- 
dition of  their  failure  to  observe  the  warning  which 
he  here  solemnly  administers  to  them.  The  warning 
is  as  pertinent  to-day  as  it  was  in  Paul's  time.  Is  it 
being  heeded  ?  Or  is  it  indeed  true  that  our  Gentile 
Christendom  is  fast  reaching  the  time  here  foreseen 
by  Paul  when  it  too  should  be  cut  off  because  of  its 
ceasing  to  "  continue  in  his  goodness."  No  statute  of 
limitation  can  ever  release  it  from  that  old,  old  debt 
which  it  owes  to  the  Jews,  and  if  it  pay  it  not — then 
the  cutting  off! 

V.  23.  They  also.  The  rejected  Jewish  people. 
//  they  abide  not  still  in  unbelief.  The  salva- 
tion of  the  Jewish  people  at  some  future  period  of 
the  world's  history  is  here  asserted  by  Paul  as  an  hy- 
pothesis ;  in  verses  26,  27,  he  asserts  it  as  a  certainty. 
But  why  does  Paul  here  say,  God  is  able  to  graff  them 
in  f  Does  he  mean  that  God  is  able  to  restore  them 
if  they  abandon  their  unbelief  and  have  faith? 
Or,  that  he  is  able  to  remove  their  unbelief  itself  and 


21 


322         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  24 : — For  if  thou  wert  cut  out  of  the  olive  tree  which  is 
wild  by  nature,  and  wert  graffed  contrary  to  nature  into  a 
^ood  olive  tree ;  how  much  more  shall  these,  which  be  the 
natural  branches,  be  graffed  into  their  own  olive  tree  f 

thus  restore  them?  These  questions  have  been  vari- 
ously answered  by  commentators.  The  simple  mean- 
ing seems  to  be  that  there  is  no  obstacle  on  God's  side 
that  can  hinder  him  ;  it  will  be  a  great,  a  stupendous 
work,  this  restoration  of  the  long  alienated  and  un- 
believing Jewish  people ;  but  God's  power  is  adequate 
to  any  work  which  he  wills  to  perform  ;  and  so  far  as 
God's  own  attitude  toward  the  Jews  is  concerned,  it  is 
a  good  deal  more  probable,  humanly  speaking,  that  he 
should  in  the  course  of  his  providence  restore  his  an- 
cient and  long-loved  people,  than  that  he  should  ever 
have  graffed  in  the  Gentiles.  The  thought  of  its  re- 
quiring an  exercise  of  divine  power  to  graff  the  Jews, 
the  broken-off  branch,  again  after  so  long  a  time,  may 
have  been  suggested  to  Paul  by  his  use  here  of  what 
most  scholars  regard  as  an  unnatural  botanical  figure. 
It  is  not  true  to  nature  that  when  a  lifeless  branch  is 
cut  from  its  stock  that  it  is  ever  graffed  again  on  that 
stock.  For  the  accomplishment  of  such  work  a  pow- 
er above  nature  is  necessary  ;  it  is  as  "  life  from  the 
dead"  (verse  15),  a  power  of  God  alone  that  can  do  it, 
by  whatever  process  that  power  may  be  exerted. 

V.  24.  Graffed  contrary  to  nature  into  a  good 
olive  tree.  The  Gentiles  had  no  afl&nity  to  begin 
with  for  the  religion  or  gospel  which  Paul  preached ; 
it  was  to  them  "  foolishness."  But  the  Jews  had  been 
brought  up  from  of  old  in  the  true  religion  as  Jeho- 
vah's  own  people,   and  hence   this  true  religion  as 


Chapter  XI.  323 


V.  25 : — For  I  would  not,  brethren,  that  ye  should  be  igno- 
rant of  this  mystery,  lest  ye  should  be  wise  in  your  own  con- 
ceits, that  blindness  in  part  is  happened  to  Israel,  until  the 
fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in. 

preached  by  the  Apostle  was,  so  to  speak,  their  own 
olive  tree ;  and  hence,  although  they  had  been  cast  off 
as  dead  and  fruitless  branches,  it  was  antecedently 
more  probable,  so  far  as  God  was  concerned,  that  in 
his  almighty  power  he  should  graff  them  back  than 
that  he  should  ever  have  graffed  in  the  wild  olive. 
"  As  men  look  upon  the  children  of  their  early  friends 
with  kinder  feelings  than  the  children  of  strangers," 
says  Dr.  Hodge,  "  so  God  refers  to  this  fact  to  make 
us  sensible  that  he  still  retains  purposes  of  peculiar 
mercy  toward  his  ancient  people.  The  restoration  of 
this  people,  therefore,  to  the  blessings  of  the  Church 
of  God  is  far  from  being  an  improbable  event." 

V.  25.  IB'or  I  would  not,  brethren,  that  yon 
should  he  ignorant.  But  the  restoration  of  Israel 
at  some  future  time  not  mentioned,  is  not  only  possible 
2,M^  probable,  but  it  is  also  certain,  a  fact  of  which  the 
Apostle  proceeds  to  inform  his  Gentile  brethren.  The 
formal  manner,  "I  would  not  have  you  ignorant, 
brethren,"  in  which  he  introduces  his  statement, 
shows  that  he  regarded  it  as  an  important  fact. 

This  mystery.  The  restoration  of  Israel  to  the 
divine  favor  referred  to  in  the  latter  part  of  the  verse, 
and  explicitly  stated  in  the  next  verse.  The  word 
"  mystery  "  in  the  writings  of  Paul  denotes,  not  some- 
thing incomprehensible,  but  a  truth  unknown  and  un- 
knowable until  God  revealed  it.  See  i  Cor.  ii.  7,  10  ; 
iv.  I ;  xiii.  2 ;  Eph.  i.  9 ;  iii.  4,  etc. 


324         Thi:  EPISTI.E  to  the  Romans. 

Blindness,  The  same  Greek  word  is,  in  the  King 
James'  Version,  in  Mark  iii.  5,  rendered  "  hardness ;"  it 
is  also  so  rendered  here  in  the  Revised  Version.  The 
word  properly  means  the  covering  with  a  callous — a 
hard  substance  which  forms  on  the  hands  or  feet  as  an 
effect  of  friction  or  pressure.  It  destroys  the  sensibil- 
ity of  the  part.  Thus  the  heart  of  Israel  was  hard- 
ened by  unbelief  so  that  it  was  not  sensible  to  spiritual 
impressions.  The  word  blindness,  though  not  so  ac- 
curate as  a  rendering,  conveys  a  good  meaning  if  we 
should  conceive  of  the  heart  as  that  faculty  whereby 
moral  or  spiritual  truth  is  perceived.  But  the  real 
thought  here  is  that  Israel  was  callous  hearted. 

In  part.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  heart  of  Is- 
rael was  only  partially  hardened,  or  blinded  (Calvin), 
but  that  there  were  some  Jews  of  whom  this  hardness 
could  not  be  afiirmed.  It  implies  also  that  there  al- 
ways would  be  some  believers  among  that  people — an 
abiding  remnant. 

l/cst  ye  be  wise  in  your  own  conceit.  Lest 
they,  the  Gentiles,  should  boast  over  the  Jews  that 
they  were  wise  in  accepting  the  gospel  whereas  the 
latter  were  foolish  in  rejecting  it.  There  was  nothing 
in  the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles  or  rejection  of  the 
Jews,  that  should  cause  the  former  to  glory  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  latter,  for  after  all,  Israel  was  rejected 
only  partially  and  temporarily. 

The  fullness  of  the  Gentiles,  All  the  Gentile 
nations.  Be  come  in.  The  Gentile  nations,  but 
not  necessarily  every  individual  Gentile,  shall  succes- 
sively be  converted  to  the  gospel,  until  finally  all  shall 
be  Christian  nations ;  the  time  when  this  shall  be  is 
not  definitely  stated.  It  depends  upon  the  wisdom 
and  energy  with  which  the  Church  carries  on  its  mis- 


Ghaptkr  XI.  335 


V.  26: — And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved:  as  it  is  written^ 
There  shall  come  out  of  Sion  the  Deliverer,  and  shall  turn 
away  ungodliness  front  facob : 

sion  work.  But  then  shall  be  the  '*  fullness"  of  Israel 
also  (verse  12)  *  And  so  the  first  people  called  shall 
be  the  last  to  come  in. 

V.  26.  And  so.  Referring  to  the  coming  in  of  the 
Gentiles  as  the  condition  upon  which  will  follow  the 
salvation  of  Israel.    All  Israel  shall  be  saved. 

An  explicit  and  important  prophecy.  Some  commen- 
tators, as  Bengel,  Olshausen,  and  others,  limit  the 
words  "  all  Israel "  to  the  totality  of  the  believing  rem- 
nant.    Of  every   generation  of  Jewish  history  there 

*"It  is  almost  incredible,"  says  Godet,  "that  our  Reform- 
ers should  have  held  out  obstinately,  as  they  have  done,  against 
a  thought  so  clearly  expressed  "—the  future  salvation  of  the 
Jewish  people  as  predicted  in  the  above  passage ;  though  it  is 
not  necessary  to  understand  the  Apostle  Paul  here  as  commit- 
ting himself  to  any  view  concerning  the  "  millennium."  Ols- 
hausen on  this  verse  quotes  some  remarkable  words  of  Lu- 
ther, as  follows :  "  A  Jewish  heart  is  so  stock-stone-devil-iron- 
hard,  that  in  no  wise  can  it  be  moved;  they  are  young  devils; 
damned  to  hell ;  to  convert  these  devil's  brats  (as  some  fondly 
ween  out  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans)  is  impossible."  And 
adds :  "  From  this,  as  from  other  expressions,  it  is  manifest 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  last  events  of  the  world's  history 
was  a  province  closed  against  the  great  Reformer  " — as  it  was 
indeed  against  all  the  Reformers,  as  they  devoted  but  little 
attention  to  the  study  of  eschatology.  The  Gentile  Church, 
however,  is  more  and  more  clearly  recognizing  its  indebted- 
ness to  the  Jews,  and  is  more  and  more  earnestly  repaying  it. 
lyuther  and  the  other  Reformers,  if  they  were  living  now,  would 
write  and  act  in  a  very  different  manner  in  respect  to  this  cast 
off  people. 


326  The  Episti^e  to  the  Romans. 

V.  27 : — For  this  is  my  covenant  unto  them,  when  I  shall 
take  away  their  sins. 

will  be  some  who  accept  Christ  as  the  true  Messiah 
and  Savior,  and  all  these  shall  be  saved.  Others,  as 
Luther,  Calvin,  and  Grotius,  limit  the  words  to  the 
spiritual  Israel,  whether  composed  of  Jews  or  Gen- 
tiles or  both.  Others,  as  Fritzsche  and  Tholuck, 
make  the  words,  "  all  Israel,"  mean  comparatively  all, 
the  greater  number.  None  of  these  views,  however,, 
meets  the  requirements  of  the  context  or  the  demands 
of  the  explicit  form  of  the  statement  which  Paul  here 
makes.  The  words  mean  the  whole  nation  of  Israel ; 
there  shall  come  a  time  when  there  shall  no  longer  be 
a  rejected,  unbelieving  portion,  but  the  entire  Israel 
shall  accept  Christ.  This  is,  in  substance,  the  view  of 
Stuart,  Hodge,  Meyer,  Godet,  and  many  others.  It  is 
hardly  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  Apostle 
means  that  in  that  day  of  future  restoration  not  a 
single  Jew  shall  be  left  out ;  but  if  there  be  any  un- 
believing Jews  the  number  will  be  so  small  as  not  to 
come  into  the  reckoning.  There  shall  no  longer  be 
any  distinction  recognized  between  saved  and  unsaved 
Israel ;  no  longer  any  such  thing  as  Judaism  in  the 
present  sense  of  the  term,  but  only  a  Christianity  ; 
there  shall  be  neither  Gentile  nor  Jew,  but  only  Chris- 
tians, The  crumbling  wall  of  partition  shall  be  ut- 
terly obliterated. 

As  it  is  written,  Isaiah  lix.  20,  Jer.  xxxi.  33.. 
The  same  Spirit  who  revealed  to  Paul  the  above 
*'  mystery  "  (verse  25),  also  enabled  him  to  see  in  it  the 
fulfillment  of  the  words  of  the  ancient  prophets. 

V.  27.  This  is  my  covenant.     The    promised 


Chapter  XI. 


327 


V.  28  :—As  concerning  the  gosptl,  they  are  enemies  for 
your  sakes :  but  as  touching  the  election^  they  are  beloved  for 
the  fathers'  sakes. 

V.  29  '.—For  the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  without  re- 
pentance. 


restoration,  or  the  turning  away  of  ungodliness  from 
Jacob.  In  that  day  when  Israel's  unbelief  shall  be 
removed  God  will  renew  his  ancient  covenant  in  all 
its  spiritual  import.  Isaiah  lix.  21,  xxvii.  9.  While 
Paul  was  inspired  as  to  the  facts  to  which  he  refers  in 
these  verses,  he  was  not  inspired  as  to  the  time  ^hen 
the  events  should  transpire.  Hence,  the  definite  time 
is  not  stated,  and  no  one  knows  when  it  will  be. 

V.  28.  Enemies  for  your  sakes.  The  sake  of 
the  Gentiles.  This  verse  simply  means  that  whereas 
God  has  rejected  the  Jews,  has  treated  them  as  if  he 
were  their  enemy,  for  the  sake  of  the  Gentiles  over- 
ruling their  unbelief  and  hostility  to  Christ  in  such 
way  as  to  work  out  thereby  the  salvation  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, he  nevertheless  in  view  of  his  ancient  choice  of 
Israel  to  be  his  people,  greatly  loves  the  Jews  for  the 
sake  of  their  fathers.  He  can  not,  humanly  speaking, 
think  of  the  ancient  relation  between  himself  and  his 
"  friend  "  Abraham,  and  the  other  patriarchs,  without 
feeling  tenderly  toward  the  wayward  children — the 
undutiful  and  prodigal  sons. 

V.  29.  For  the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are 
without  repentance.  He  does  not  regret  that  he 
bestowed  gifts  upon  Israel,  he  does  not  regret  that  he 
called  Israel.  The  love  that  has  ever  throbbed  in  his 
divine  heart  for  those  who  have  been  from  of  old  "  the 


328  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  30 : — For  as  ye  in  times  past  have  not  believed  God,  yet 
have  now  obtained  mercy  through  their  unbelief: 

V.  31 : — Even  so  have  these  also  now  not  believed^  that 
through  your  mercy  they  also  may  obtain  mercy. 

V.  32  : — For  God  hath  concluded  them,  all  in  unbelief  that 
he  might  have  m.ercy  upofi  all. 

sheep  of  his  pasture,"  will  pursue  them  through  the 
ages  until  they  are  gathered  back  in  his  fold. 

Vs.  30, 31.  For  as  ye  in  times  pasty  etc.  Ye  Gen- 
tile Christians.  The  meaning  of  these  verses,  which 
make  but  one  sentence,  is :  For  as  God  so  overruled 
the  unbelief  and  disobedience  of  the  Jews  as  to  cause 
the  Gentiles  thereby  to  obtain  mercy,  or  to  be  incor- 
porated into  his  Church,  so  will  he  also  overrule  this 
salvation  of  the  Gentiles,  or  this  mercy  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, so  as  to  bring  about  thereby  a  bestowal  of  mercy 
upon  the  Jews.  He  will  make  the  rejection  of  the 
Jews  contribute  to  the  bringing  in  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  this  in  turn  to  the  bringing  in  again  of  the  now 
rejected  Jews.     For,  etc. 

V.  32.  For  God  hath  concluded  them  all  in 
unbelief  that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all. 

This  verse  is  to  be  taken  in  close  connection  with 
verses  30,  31.  Together  they  constitute  an  epitome  of 
God's  plan  of  salvation  in  its  historical  aspects.  Them 
all,  means,  not  all  Israel  exclusively,  not  all  Gentiles 
exclusively,  but  all  both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  The 
word  concluded  means  shut  up  to  one  course,  or  in  one 
place,  to  be  left  without  alternative.  From  what  we 
have  already  learned  of  Paul's  teaching  we  know  that 
he  does  not  mean  that  God  in  any  way  forced  either 
Jews  or  Gentiles  to  disobey  him  in  order  that  he  might 


Chapter  XI.  329 


V.  33 : — O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  God!  how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments^ 
and  his  ways  past  finding  out ! 

play  off,  as  it  were,  Jew  and  Gentile,  the  one  against 
the  other,  for  the  purpose  of  displaying  his  wisdom 
and  mercy  in  saving  both.  Nor  do  the  Apostle's 
words  in  this  verse  teach  any  such  doctrine.  What- 
ever may  be  said  of  God's  sovereignty  his  evident  de- 
sire was  to  have  mercy  upon  all.  The  Apostle  has 
already  informed  us,  however,  that  the  cause  of  God's 
action  toward  men,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  is  two- 
fold: First,  on  man's  part,  it  was  man's  own  unbelief; 
second,  on  God's  part  the  cause  lay  in  his  own  nature. 
While  God,  therefore,  did  not  decree  the  unbelief  or 
disobedience,  he  did  decree  to  so  use  it  as  to  make  it 
subservient  to  human  salvation.  He  would  make  this 
enemy  of  human  welfare  slay  itself.  The  meaning  of 
this  verse  then,  as  it  seem  to  me,  is  the  same  as  that 
of  verse  31,  expressed  in  other  words.  That  is,  in  the 
working  out  historically  of  his  plan  of  human  salva- 
tion, God  so  wrought  as  to  omit  none;  Israel  as  a 
whole  and  the  Gentiles  as  a  whole  are  both  included, 
or  shut  up  within  the  scope  of  the  working  of  that 
plan.  And  a  circumstance  that  makes  the  divine 
working  only  the  more  wonderful  is,  that  he  so  deter- 
, mines,  or  so  overrules,  or  uses  the  wandering  of  each 
as  to  make  it  the  means  of  the  in-bringing  of  all  the 
others.  In  this  view  of  the  matter  it  does  not  seem 
at  all  strange  that  the  Apostle  should  exclaim  in  the 
next  verse. 

Vs.  33,  34.  O  the  depth  of  the  wisdom  and 
knowledge  of  God!    This  is  the  doxology  with 


330         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  34: — For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord?  or 
who  hath  been  his  counsellor  ? 

V.  35: — Or  who  hath  first  given  to  him,  and  it  shall  be 
recompensed  unto  him  again  ? 

V.  36 : — For  of  him,,  and  through  him,,  and  to  him,,  are  all 
things :  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever.    Amen. 

which  the  Apostle  concludes  his  great  argument.  A 
Being  who  can  so  plan  and  work  for  another  being 
who  is  himself  a  free  being,  and  who,  alas,  is  also 
prone  to  sin  as  the  sparks  fly  upward,  must  indeed  be 
a  Being  of  inexhaustible  resources,  infinite  in  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  and  unsearchable  in  his  production 
and  use  of  expedients  whereby  to  accomplish  the  sal- 
vation of  a  fallen  world.  Who  could  have  anticipated 
him  ?  Who  could  have  forecast  that  he  would  do  thus 
and  so?  Who  could  have  advised  him?  And  is  it 
possible  that  he  can  ever  be  repaid  for  what  he  has 
done?     See  Isa.  xl.  13;  Job  xli.  11. 

V.  36.  For  of  him  .  .  .  through  him  ,  .  .  to 
him  are  all  things.  And  that  is  the  reason  why 
the  above  questions  must  be  answered  in  the  negative. 
God  is  absolutely  independent.  All  things  are  0/  him, 
he  being  their  Creator ;  all  things  are  through  him,  he 
being  their  upholder  and  governor ;  all  things  are  ta 
him,  he  being  the  One  to  whom  all  things  point  and  to 
whose  will  they  are  subject,  and  to  whose  glory  they 
tend. 


Chapter  XII.  331 


VI. 
THE  DOCTRINE  IN  ITS  ETHICAL  ASPECTS. 

(Application  to  Christian  life.) 

Chapters  xii.-xiv. 

Why  should  the  Apostle  so  exhort  his  readers  to 
live  as  enjoined  in  these  chapters  since  he  has  already- 
abundantly  shown  that  his  doctrine  of  justification 
must  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  be  productive  of 
such  a  life  ? 

"  As  blossom  and  fruit,"  says  Olshausen,  "  grow  only 
from  a  sound  root,  so  too  it  is  only  from  faith  in 
Christ,  and  in  the  redemption  wrought  by  him,  that 
true  moral  life  proceeds."  The  right  faith  naturally 
produces  the  right  life,  and  the  right  life  springs  of 
necessity  out  of  the  right  faith.  But  whence  then  the 
need  of  any  ethical,  or  practical,  discussion  and  ex- 
hortation ?  Why  should  light  be  exhorted  to  shine  or 
fire  to  warm,  or  faith  to  manifest  itself  in  such  sort  of 
life  as  it  is  by  its  very  nature  bound  to  do  ?  And  thus 
is  raised  an  important  practical  question.  The  an-^ 
swer  is, 

I.  The  life  of  faith,  the  moral  life,  the  life  which  is 
in  a  true  sense  the  outflow  of  that  inner  principle 
which  constitutes  the  man  a  Christian  at  heart,  is  reg- 
ulated by  laws  different  from  those  which  govern 
physical  life,  in  so  far  as  in  the  domain  of  physical 
nature  there  is  no  such  thing  as  freedom  ;  whereas,  in 


332  ThK  BPISTI.E  TO   THE  ROMANS. 

the  sphere  of  the  moral,  human  liberty  is  an  ever- 
present  factor  which  may  influence  favorably  or  un- 
favorably the  outward  manifestation  of  the  inner 
principle  of  faith.  The  light  must  shine,  but  there  is 
no  physical  law  which  can  make  it  shine  outwardly 
when  placed  under  a  bushel.  The  tree  when  planted 
must  produce  its  fruit,  but  not  unless  it  be  protected 
from  frost  and  other  injurious  influences  which  do  not 
lie  in  the  nature  of  the  planted  tree.  But  the  candle 
can  not  remove  the  bushel,  the  tree  can  not  protect  it- 
self, whereas  man,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  he  is  man, 
and  not  a  tree,  can  himself  contribute  to  his  own  de- 
velopment. There  is  nothing  wrong  with  the  faith, 
provided  it  be  such  a  faith  as  Paul  has  described  in  the 
preceding  part  of  this  epistle.  By  the  exercise  of 
faith  we  are  justified,  we  are  sanctified,  we  are  finally 
glorified,  it  is  the  nature  of  faith  to  do  just  what  the 
Apostle  says  it  will  do,  and  when  this  principle  is  once 
in  the  heart  it  is  there  abidingly.  But  its  develop- 
ment and  manifestation  outwardly  are  affected  largely 
by  influences  which  are  extraneous  to  itself,  and  to  the 
partial  or  total  destruction  of  which  the  man  may 
himself  contribute.  This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  doc- 
trine of  not  only  Paul  but  also  of  our  Lord.  While 
therefore  we  can  not  admonish  the  candle  to  shine  or 
the  planted  tree  to  produce  its  fruit,  it  is  logically  le- 
gitimate to  admonish  the  believer  to  manifest  his 
faith,  or  to  produce  certain  fruits  in  his  life,  notwith- 
standing it  is  the  very  nature  of  faith  to  do  this. 

2.  But  another  fact  that  renders  the  admonitions  of 
this  part  of  his  epistle  logically  pertinent  in  the  face 
of  what  he  has  said  of  the  nature  of  faith,  is  the  cir- 
cumstance that  the  quality  or  character  of  the  tree  can 
oftentimes  be  determined  only  from  the  character  of 


Chapter  XII.  333 


the  fruit  which  it  produces.  If  I  desire  to  know 
whether  the  faith  which  is  in  me  is  the  faith  of  which 
Paul  writes,  it  may  be  very  helpful  in  seeking  an  an- 
swer to  this  question  for  me  to  compare  the  known 
fruits  of  my  faith  with  the  fruits  as  herein  described 
by  Paul.  I  do  not  think,  however,  that  this  is  the 
chief  value  which  Paul  himself  meant  to  attach  to  this 
part  of  his  epistle. 

3.  At  the  time  when  Paul  wrote,  the  religion  of 
Christ,  whether  regarded  as  an  inner  principle  or  as 
an  outward  manner  of  life,  was  far  from  being  well 
understood  by  either  Jews  or  Gentiles.  And  the 
Apostle  knew  that  although  Christians  are  not  of  the 
world  they  are  nevertheless  in  the  world ;  that  no 
man  can  live  to  himself  alone,  that  there  is  obliged  to 
be  social  organization  and  order,  and  hence  compro- 
mises ;  every  Christian  must  necessarily  stand  in  cer- 
tain relations  to  every  other  Christian,  and  to  the 
Church,  the  civil  government,  and  to  other  men  gen- 
erally. And  hence  the  question  would  naturally  arise, 
how  shall  this  doctrine  of  justification  and  santifica- 
tion  by  faith  be  applied  to  these  various  relations  of 
the  Christian's  constant  life  ?  The  Christian  conscience 
would  not  spring  up  suddenly  and  spontaneously  from 
the  doctrine,  but  could  be  best  formed  and  enlight- 
ened by  a  process  of  instruction  specially  directed 
thereto ;  and  hence  Paul  begins  by  bringing  into  the 
consciousness  of  the  Christians  several  lines  along 
which  their  faith  or  religious  character  should  mani- 
fest itself. 

(i)  First  of  all  there  must  be  thorough  consecration. 
to  God  as  a  basis  of  Christian  conduct. 

(2)  Certain  duties  in  relation  to  the  Church. 
■    (3)  In  relation  to  the  civil  government. 


334         "^H^  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  XII.,  V:  i : — /  beseech  you,  therefore,  brethren,  by  the 
mercies  of  God,  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice^ 
holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service. 

(4)  In  relation  to  certain  matters  in  themselves  in- 
different. 

Hence,  it  seems  to  me  that  in  following  up  his  doc- 
trinal discussion  with  these  earnest  exhortations  as  to 
how  the  Christian  ought  to  live  the  Apostle  betrays  no 
apprehension  that  his  teaching  concerning  the  way  of 
salvation  might  indeed  so  far  open  the  way  for  sin- 
ning in  order  that  grace  might  abound,  as  to  render  it 
necessary  for  him  to  lay  down  a  special  set  of  pre- 
cepts as  a  safeguard.  It  is  not  to  be  construed  as  in 
any  sense  a  withdrawing  or  softening  of  his  positive 
teachings  in  regard  to  the  justifying  and  sanctifying 
efficacy  of  faith. 

Consecration. 

(Chap.   XII.) 

V.  I.  J  beseech    you,    therefore.     The   word 

"therefore  "  connects  this  second  or  practical  part  of 
the  epistle  with  the  first  or  doctrinal  part.  The  holy 
life  which  the  Christians  are  here  earnestly  exhorted 
to  live  in  their  various  relations,  to  one  another,  the 
Church,  the  State,  the  world,  is  the  natural  sequel  to 
the  doctrinal  discussion.  Such  a  way  of  salvation 
logically  implies  such  a  way  of  living.  By  the  mer- 
cies of  God.  The  word  "mercies"  here  is  in  the 
Greek  oiktermos  ;  in  chap.  xi.  30-32,  and  elsewhere  it  is 
eleas.  The  latter  word  denotes  rather  the  act  of  be- 
stowing mercy ;  the  former,  that  infinite  compassion 
of  God's  heart  which  causes  him  to  bestow  mercy. 
By  reminding  his  readers,  whether  Gentile  or  Jewish, 


Chapter  XII. 


335 


of  this  infinite  divine  compassion,  the  outcome  of 
which  is  the  wondrous  plan  of  salvation  which  he  has 
just  sketched,  would  the  Apostle  persuade  them  to 
present  their  bodies,  etc.  Paul  says  mercies,  that  is  he 
uses  the  plural  form  of  the  word,  by  way  of  emphasis, 
the  divine  compassion  being  presented  to  the  contem- 
plation of  his  readers  in  all  the  details  of  the  plan  of 
salvation,  every  one  of  which  was  the  outflow  of  this 
fountain  of  infinite  pity.  It  is  the  love  wherewith 
God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  etc.  And  because  Paul  thinks  of  the  world  as 
suffering  and  miserable  that  which  is  elsewhere  called 
love  is  here  called  compassion. 

That  ye  present  your  bodies,  Paul  thus  re- 
minds his  readers  that  such  compassion,  manifested  in 
such  a  sacrifice,  on  God's  part,  would  naturally  be 
supposed  to  demand  and  to  be  followed  by  a  sacrifice 
of  thanksgiving  on  their  part.  He  speaks  in  the  fa- 
miliar language  of  the  Mosaic  service,  according  to 
which  the  "  sin-offering  "  was  followed  by  the  "  peace- 
offering  "  as  an  expression  of  gratitude.  As  Christ's 
body  has  been  presented  as  a  sin-offering  for  you,  so 
present  yours  as  a  thank-offering. 

Your  bodies.  Which  hitherto  had  been  the  in- 
struments of  unrighteousness ;  chap.  vi.  12,  13,  19. 
The  word  "  body  "  is  also  naturally  suggested  by  the 
word  "  sacrifice."  It  was  the  body  of  the  sacrificial 
victim  that  was  presented  as  a  whole  burnt-off"ering.  It 
was  consecrated  or  formally  set  apiart  to  this  purpose. 
So  should  be  the  body  of  the  believer.  Paul  of  course 
does  not  mean  the  body  apart  from  the  mind  or  spirit, 
but  he  especially  mentions  the  body  because  it  is  the 
instrument  through  which  the  mind  acts  :  and  it  is  of 
the  believer's  conduct  that  he  is  to  speak  in  the  re- 


336         The  Episti^e  to  the  Romans. 

maining  part  of  the  epistle.  And  besides  it  was  conceiv- 
able that  one  might  be  consecrated  in  spirit,  as  indeed 
all  true  Christians  must  be,  without  being  consecrated 
as  to  the  body — that  is,  in  outward  act  and  conduct. 

A  living  sacriRce,  Here  again  the  Apostle's 
language  is  in  harmony  with  the  well  known  Mosaic 
requirement  that  the  body  of  the  animal  was  to  be 
consecrated  while  it  was  alive  ;  and  he  means  that  the 
body  of  the  true  Christian  must  be  the  ever  active  in- 
strument of  God's  will. 

Holy,  Not,  of  course,  in  the  sense  of  real  moral 
purity,  for  holiness  in  this  sense  can  not  be  predicated 
of  the  body.  But  as  the  body  while  it  was  the  instru- 
ment of  unrighteousness,  devoted  to  the  service  of 
sin,  is  said  to  be  impure  or  unholy,  so  when  conse- 
crated to  and  actively  engaged  in  the  service  of  God, 
it  is  called  pure  or  holy.  It  is  holy  in  that  it  is  actively 
consecrated.  Such  a  body  is  acceptable  or  well-pleas- 
ing, as  the  ancient  sacrifice  rightly  offered  was  called 
a  sweet-smelling  savor. 

Which  is  your  reasonable  service.  Paul  does 
not,  it  seems  to  me,  mean  "  your  spiritual  service,"  in 
contrast  with  their  (the  Jews')  ritual  or  ceremonial 
service,  though  Meyer,  Gifford,  and  others  think  that 
he  does  mean  this.  But  is  it  not  more  in  harmony 
with  the  connection  of  this  ethical  or  practical  part  of 
the  epistle  as  compared  with  the  doctrinal  part,  to  sup- 
pose that  Paul  here  means  that  the  presentation  of 
their  bodies  as  a  living  sacrifice  to  God  is  a  "  logical " 
service — that  is,  just  such  a  service  as  those  who  have 
in  them  that  principle  of  faith  which  he  has  described, 
would  naturally  or  reasonably  be  expected  to  render  ? 
So  it  seems  to  me,  though  most  commentators  are 
against  this  view. 


Chapter  XII.  337 


Reasonable  Service. — "Spiritual  service,"  as  con- 
trasted with  the  material  or  ritual  service  of  the  Jews. 
Or,  "rational  service,"  as  contrasted  with  irrational 
animal  victims.  Most  commentators  hold  one  or  the 
other  of  these  interpretations.  It  seems  to  me  best, 
however,  to  take  the  word  "reasonable,"  or  its  Greek 
equivalent,  in  a  sense  which  is  also  a  very  common 
one,  "agreeable  to  reason,"  "logical:"  in  which  case 
the  Apostle  means  that  the  presentation  of  their  bodies 
as  a  living  sacrifice  is  just  such  a  service  as  those,  etc. 
I  prefer  this  interpretation  for  the  following  reasons : 

1.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  connec- 
tion between  this  practical  part  of  the  epistle  and  the 
doctrinal  part  as  explained  above. 

2.  The  Apostle  is  not  contrasting  one  kind  of  serv- 
ice with  another,  but  is  answering  an  implied  inquiry 
on  the  part  of  Christians  as  to  what  kind  of  service 
theirs  should  be.  If  it  had  been  a  contrast  with  the 
old  Jewish  or  with  heathen  worship  he  would  rather 
have  said  a  reasonable  service,  instead  of  your  reason- 
able service. 

3.  But  the  old  Jewish  service  was  after  all,  in  so  far 
as  it  was  service  at  all,  no  less  spiritual  than  the 
Christian.  It  was  so  understood  and  intended  to  be 
by  Moses  and  the  prophets.  The  fact  that  it  was 
elaborate  in  outward  form  was  not  intended  to  make 
it  less  spiritual,  otherwise  it  would  so  far  have  des- 
troyed its  character  as  worship. 

The  word  rendered  service  means  worship.  We 
often  use  the  two  words  interchangeably,  as  in  the 
phrases  **  divine  service  "  and  "  divine  worship."  Paul 
does  not  mean  that  the  worship  of  God  in  the  sanc- 
tuary is  not  reasonable,  but  he  does  mean  that  the 
presentation  of  the  body  as  here  directed  is  rea- 
22 


338  Thk  BPISTI.E  TO  THE  Romans. 

V.  2 : — And  be  not  cofiformed  to  this  world :  but  be  ye 
transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye  may 
prove  what  is  that  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of 
God. 

sonable  worship.  To  use  the  two  words  "service" 
and  "worship"  in  the  usual  senses  in  which,  unfor- 
tunately, they  are  not  synonymous,  we  may  well  say 
that  the  truest  and  best  service  of  God  is  the  truest 
and  best  worship  of  God. 

V.  2.  Be  not  conformed.  Be  not  fashioned ;  be 
not  molded  in  your  conduct  in  the  immoral  or  unholy 
mold  of  this  world.  By  "this  world"  the  Apostle 
does  not  mean  this  world  as  contrasted  with  heaven, 
but  this  world  in  the  sense  of  these  corrupt  times,  as 
we  might  say.  Your  righteousness,  your  conduct  in 
all  the  relations  of  life,  should  exceed  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  "  Scribes  and  Pharisees  "  and  unconverted 
Gentiles  about  you.  But  as  our  Savior  said  exceed, 
so  Paul  said  let  your  righteousness  be,  as  it  were, 
formed  in  a  diflferent  mold. 

Be  ye  transformed.  Be  altogether  diflferent  in 
your  righteousness,  in  the  use  of  your  bodies,  from 
what  you  once  were.  Let  the  new  principle  of  faith 
which  is  in  you  have  its  natural  and  legitimate  eflfect. 
Let  it  change,  metamorphose,  your  whole  lives.  By 
the  renewing  of  your  mind.  The  transforma- 
tion or  change  of  the  whole  life,  which  Paul  here 
speaks  of  as  the  use  of  the  body,  is  to  be  brought 
about,  not  by  the  mechanical  imitation  of  some  good 
lives  which  we  may  see  around  us,  but  by  the  natural 
working  outward  of  the  inward  principle.  It  is  our- 
selves, as  intelligent  moral  beings,  that  act ;  and  only 
by  having  ourselves,  as  such  renewed  in  the  manner 


Chapter  XII.  339 


in  which  Paul  has  already  set  forth,  can  our  acts,  our 
conduct,  our  lives;  our  righteousness,  be  transformed. 
Only  as  the  fountain  changes  can  the  stream  which 
flows  from  it  be  changed.  At  least  such  is  the  trans- 
formation of  which  the  Apostle  here  speaks. 

That  ye  ihay  prove.  That  ye  may  appreciate 
or  discern.  We  should  notice  that  Paul  does  not  say 
here :  Be  renewed  as  to  your  mind  in  order  that  ye 
may  discern,  etc.;  though  of  course  the  renewal  of  the 
mind  is  necessary  to  the  right  discernment  of  God's 
will.  What  he  says  here  is  :  Be  transformed  .  .  .  that 
ye  may  discern,  etc.  In  order  to  the  right  discern- 
ment and  appreciation  of  God's  will  it  is  no  less  truly 
necessary  to  have  our  bodies  transformed,  our  old 
righteousness  or  conduct  changed  into  a  new,  than  it 
is  to  have  our  mind  renewed.  The  way  to  know  the 
will  of  God  is  to  do  the  will  of  God  so  far  as  already 
known.  But  the  transformation  of  the  life  can  be  ef- 
fected, to  begin  with,  only  by  the  renewal  of  the  mind. 

Good.  The  will  of  God  is  called  good,  because 
God  never  either  wills  or  approves  any  thing  that  is 
evil.  Acceptable.  The  will  of  God  is  called  ac- 
ceptable, not  because  it  is  acceptable  or  pleasing  to 
himself,  as  some  commentators  have  strangely  held. 
It  is  so  called  because  it  is  acceptable  or  pleasing  to 
those  who  do  it.  By  such  it  is  always  approved. 
And  the  will  of  God  when  done  by  the  Christian  <5ften 
produces  a  very  pleasing  impression  on  those  who 
witness  it,  even  though  they  be  not  Christians  them- 
selves. Perfect.  Wanting  nothing  necessary  to  its 
completeness ;  in  no  way  defective ;  it  is  good,  it  is 
acceptable ;  hence  it  is  perfect.  Paul,  therefore,  re- 
ally teaches  here  that  the  way  to  know  or  discern  the 
will  of  God  as  to  its  content,  and  also  as  to  its  quality, 


340         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  y.—For  I  say,  through  the  grace  given  unto  me,  ta 
every  man  that  is  among  you,  not  to  think  of  himself  more 
highly  than  he  ought  to  think ;  but  to  think  soberly,  accord- 
ing as  God  hath  dealt  to  every  man  the  measure  of  faith. 

is  to  do  it — present  the  body  a  living  sacrifice  to  God 
— thorough,  continuous,  consecration.  The  will  of 
God,  as  manifested  in  his  word  and  in  his  providence, 
will  be  agreeable,  a  source  of  positive  pleasure  to 
Christians,  in  proportion  as  they  obey  this  wise  pre- 
cept of  the  Apostle.  A  consecrated  Christian  is  not 
one  who  complains  and  lives  in  dark  doubts  as  to 
what  the  will  of  God  is  concerning  him. 

Duties  in  Relation  to  the  Church  and  to  One 
Another. 

V.  3.  Por,  The  first  duty  which  the  Apostle  men- 
tions is  the  exercise  of  humility ;  and  the  word  for^ 
with  which  he  begins  the  verse,  indicates  that  the  ex- 
ercise of  this  gift  or  grace  is  the  natural  and  immediate 
effect  of  the  consecration  to  which  the  Christian  has 
just  been  earnestly  exhorted.  No  one  can  be  thor- 
oughly and  truly  consecrated  to  God  without  being 
truly  humble. 

I  say,  Paul  does  not  say  here  "  I  beseech,"  but 
"  I  enjoin,"  or,  "  I  command."  Through  the  grace 
given  unto  me.  By  virtue  of  the  authority  given 
me  as  an  apostle.  To  every  man  that  is  among 
you.  These  words  are  addressed  not  merely  to  the 
Christian  community,  but  to  every  individual  of  that 
community.  Not  to  think  of  himself y  etc.  'Not 
to  be  high-minded  above  what  is  right-minded,  but  to 
be  so  minded  as  to  be  sober-minded  or  sound-minded.^ 
According  as  God  hath  dealt,  etc.    The  Apostle 


Chapter  XII.  341 


V.  4 ; For  as  we  have  many  members  in  one  body^  and  all 

members  have  not  the  same  ojfice : 

V.  5 : So  we,  being   maiiy,  are  one  body  in  Christy  and 

every  one  members  one  of  another. 


fixes  the  standard  of  our  thought  or  opinion  of  our- 
selves. It  is  the  measure  of  faith  which  God  has 
dealt  to  us;  and  by  "the  measure  of  faith"  is  meant 
the  capacity,  the  ability,  the  power,  which  God  has 
given  to  each  man  as  a  Christian.  Some  have  more 
than  others;  some  have  few  "talents,"  others  many. 
One  person  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  one  service,  another 
to  another.  Let  every  man  estimate  himself  accord- 
ingly. According  to  the  rule  which  Paul  here  lays 
down  true  humility  consists  in  estimating  one's  self 
aright,  neither  too  highly  nor  too  lowly. 

Vs.  4,  5.  ¥or  as  we  have.  The  Apostle  proceeds 
to  illustrate  his  own  meaning :  *'  For  just  as  in  one 
human  body  there  are  many  members,  and  the  mem- 
bers have  not  the  same  ofl&ce,  so  are  we  Christians, 
though  many  in  number,  one  body  in  Christ.  The 
Church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  and  as  such  it  is  a  unit ; 
members  are  the  individual  Christians,  to  each  of 
whom  is  assigned  his  ofiice,  or  "  measure  of  faith,"  or 
talent,  whatever  its  form  may  be.  One  Christian  may 
have  more  of  the  divine  life  in  him,  more  of  the 
Spirit,  more  aptitude  for  service  in  a  particular  sphere 
than  another.  It  does  not  belong  to  the  line  of  the 
Apostle's  thought  to  ask  or  answer  the  question,  why. 
Nor  does  he  suggest  that  in  distributing  his  gifts  so 
differently  God  has  bestowed  more  honor  in  this  world 
upon  one  Christian  than  upon  another.  The  distinc- 
tion, as  to  honor,  in  the  forms  of  service,  whether 
these  differing  forms  be  due  to  the  differing  gifts  or  to 


342  Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  6 : — Having  then  gifts  differing  according  to  the  grace 
that  is  given  to  us,  whether  prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  accord- 
ing to  the  proportion  of  faith  ; 

the  very  nature  of  an  organized  body,  is  altogether 
human  and  artificial.  God  has  bestowed  no  more 
honor  upon  the  hand  than  he  has  upon  the  foot.  And 
hence  in  this  sense,  Olshausen's  remark  that  "in 
God's  creation  there  is  no  such  thing  as  absolute 
equality,"  is  not  true.  Though  it  is  true  that  the  hand 
does  often  succeed  in  asserting  itself  at  the  foot's  ex- 
pense. But  by  God  they  are  equally  honored.  The 
Christian  of  only  two  gifts  or  talents  that  fills  well  a 
place  that  requires  only  two  talents  ranks  just  as  high 
in  God's  estimation  as  the  man  of  five  gifts  who  fills 
well  a  place  which  requires  five. 

V.  6.  Having  then  gifts  differing,  etc.  These 
differing  gifts,  of  prophecy,  of  ministering,  of  teach- 
ing, and  so  on,  which  the  Apostle  mentions,  God  be- 
*stowed  on  the  individual  believers  respectively,  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  faith,  the  capacity  to  receive,  or 
the  ability  to  use  wisely  whatever  God  might  give. 
The  true  humility  enjoined  in  verse  3  is  necessary  to 
the  right  use  of  the  special  gifts,  some  of  which  are 
here  named. 

Prophecy.  ''Prophecy  in  the  Christian  Church 
was  a  gift  whereby  the  mind,  enlightened  and  exalted 
by  the  spirit  of  revelation,  was  able  to  declare  the 
purposes  of  God,  and  to  foretell  future  events  (Acts  xi. 
28;  XX.  23;  xxi.  4,  11),  as  well  as  to  unfold  the  deep 
mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  clothe  its  moral 
precepts  in  words  of  wisdom  and  power  not  of  man's 
teaching."  (Gifford.)  The  predictive  element  of  proph- 
ecy has  long  since  been  withdrawn  from  the  Church. 


Chapter  XII.  343 


V.  7 : — Or  ministry,  let  us  wait  on  our  ministering ;  or  he 
that  teacheth,  on  teaching  ; 

The  apostleship  was  the  first  office  in  rank  in  the 
New  Testament  times.  But  Paul,  himself  an  apostle, 
is  not  addressing  apostles,  and  probably  no  grace  or 
authority  was  given  unto  him  to  either  command  or 
exhort  them.  Hence  he  does  not  here  mention  that 
office. 

A c cording  to  the  proportion  of  faith .  A  good 
many  commentators  think  that  this  expression  means 
the  same  as  "  the  measure  of  faith  "  in  verse  3 ;  others 
think  that  it  means  the  analogy  or  general  trend  of 
revealed  truth  as  it  had  been  thus  far  communicated  to 
the  Church.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  gives  to 
the  expression  a  kind  of  technical  sense,  making  it  de- 
note the  system  of  theology  of  the  Church  and  for- 
bidding us  to  interpret  the  Bible  contrary  to  that  sys- 
tem. It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  Apostle  had  no 
such  thought  in  his  mind.  It  seems  to  me  that  his 
meaning  is  that  the  prophet  should  prophesy  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  and  extent  of  his  gift,  which  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  sense  as  that  of  "  the  measure  of 
faith  "  in  verse  3.  As  one  should  estimate  himself  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  and  extent  of  his  gifts,  so  should 
he  use  his  gifts  according  to  the  same  rule.  This  cau- 
tion of  the  Apostle  was  especially  necessary  in  the 
case  of  the  prophet,  as  that  office  seems  to  have  been 
peculiarly  liable  to  abuse  in  the  Apostolic  Churches. 
I  Cor.  xiv.  29-38. 

V.  7.  Ministry,  The  diaconate,  or  office  of  dea- 
con, to  which  was  assigned  the  duty  of  looking  after 
the  poor  and  sick  of  the  Church,  and  other  temporal 


344         ^^^  Bpisti<e  to  the;  Romans. 

V.  8: — Or  he  that  exhorteth,  on  exhortation:  he  that 
givethy  let  him  do  it  with  simplicity ;  he  that  ruleth,  with 
diligence ;  he  that  sheweth  fnercy,  with  cheerfulness. 

and  external  matters.  As  the  Apostle  is  specifying 
the  different  classes  of  officers  it  is  probable  that  he 
here  uses  the  word  in  this  restricted  sense — that  is,  not 
including  the  preaching  function.  It  is  used  in  a  much 
more  general  sense,  including  all  classes  of  ecclesias- 
tical officers,  in  i  Cor.  iii.  5 ;  2  Cor.  vi.  4 ;  Kph.  iii.  7 ; 
vi.  21  ;  Col.  i.  7,  23  ;  i  Tim.  iv.  6,  etc.  The  word  is 
used  in  the  limited  sense  in  Acts  vi.  1-3 ;  Phil.  i.  i  ;  i 
Tim.  iii.  8-13,  etc. 

l/et  us  wait  on  our  ministering.  Give  our  un- 
divided attention  to  it,  not  attempting  to  discharge  the 
duties  also  of  another  office,     i  Tim.  iv.  15. 

He  that  teacheth,  i  Cor.  xii.  28,  29.  The 
prophet  and  the  teacher  both  taught ;  but  the  prophet 
received  and  communicated  to  the  Church  new  rev- 
elations, while  the  teacher,  or  preacher,  confined  him- 
self to  the  orderly  and  clear  exposition  of  the  truths 
already  revealed,  i  Cor.  xii.  8;  Eph.  iv.  11.  The  of- 
fices of  pastor  and  teacher  soon  came  to  be  united,  the 
same  person  being  endowed  with  both  gifts.  Titus  i. 
9;  I  Tim.  V.  17. 

V.  8.  He  that  exhorteth.  The  gift  of  exhorta- 
tion was  often  distinct  from  that  of  prophecy  or  teach- 
ing. The  Apostle  means  that  whichever  of  the  sev- 
eral gifts  here  named  one  may  have,  let  him  restrict 
himself  to  its  proper  use,  and  not  attempt  to  exercise 
the  functions  of  an  office  for  which  he  has  no  fitness. 

He  that  giveth.  Almsgiving,  or  other  forms  of 
beneficence.     Kph.  iv.  28.     With  simplicity.    The 


Chapter  XII.  345 


V.  9 : — Let  love  be  without  dissimulation.  Abhor  that 
which  is  evil ;  cleave  to  that  which  is  good. 

word  may  mean  either,  without  assuming  to  one's  self 
any  air  of  vain-glory,  or  with  a  generous,  liberal  mind. 
In  either  case  the  act  of  giving  is  to  be  prompted  by  no 
self-seeking.  A  gift  of  the  Spirit  is  needed  to  enable 
one  to  do  this  kind  of  giving.     Matt.  vi.  3 ;  xix.  21. 

jffe  that  ruletb.  The  word  thus  rendered  denotes 
a  person  who  holds  any  office  of  rule  over  others,  as  a 
presbyter,  a  president  of  an  assembly,  a  pastor,  etc. 
The  specific  reference  here  seems  to  be  to  those  per- 
sons whose  duty  it  was  to  preside  over  the  work  of 
collecting  and  distributing  funds  and  other  forms  of 
help  for  the  suffering  and  needy.  With  diligence. 
With  earnest  attention  to  the  fulfillment  of  duty. 
This  kind  of  work  is  very  liable  to  be  neglected.  It  is 
done  for  others  than  ourselves,  and  usually  without 
compensation. 

He  that  showeth  mercy.  As  in  visiting  the  sick 
or  those  suffering  otherwise.  With  cheerfulness. 
Not  merely  with  inward  cheerfulness  of  spirit,  but 
with  an  outward  expression  of  cheerfulness.  It  is 
possible  to  "  show  mercy  "  with  inward  cheerfulness 
and  yet  do  it  in  a  very  gloomy  way.  This  is  not  the 
Apostle's  meaning.  The  word  here  rendered  "  cheer- 
fulness "  is  the  one  from  which  we  obtain  our  word 
hilarity — affableness  of  manner. 

V.  9.  IfCt   love    be  without   dissimulation. 

This  does  not  mean  that  we  must  reveal  all  the 
love  which  our  hearts  feel,  but  that  we  must  feel 
all  that  we  reveal.  Love  without  a  "  mask,"  as  the 
word  "  dissimulation  "  here  means,  is  love  which  is 


346  Thk  Epistle  to  the:  Romans. 

V.  10 : — Be  kindly  affectioned  one  to  another  with  brotherly 
love  ;  in  honor  preferring  one  another  ; 

real,  or  genuine.  Abhor  .  .  .  cleave.  These  two 
words  are,  as  Paul  wrote  them,  participles  and  not 
verbs.  The  two  clauses  which  they  introduce  are  in- 
tended to  further  describe  the  love  which  characterizes 
Christians.  The  idea  may  be  brought  out  thus  :  I,et 
the  love  by  which  you  are  to  be  characterized  be  with- 
out hypocrisy,  pure,  genuine  love,  abhorring  the  evil, 
cleaving  to  the  good,  even  though  the  evil  be  seen  in 
the  person  whom  we  love.  Our  love  for  one  should 
not  be  such  as  to  cause  us  to  approve  the  evil  in  him 
or  which  he  may  do. 

V.  10.  Be  kindly  affectioned  one  to  another 
with  brotherly  love.  In  love  of  the  brethren  be 
tenderly  affectioned  one  to  another.  The  love  which 
members  of  the  Church  should  cherish  and  exercise 
toward  one  another  should  be  characterized  by  the 
tenderness  and  delicacy  of  attention  which  character- 
izes the  mutual  love  of  members  of  the  same  family. 
The  word  "tenderly  affectioned"  is  the  word  used 
chiefly  to  denote  the  reciprocal  tenderness  of  parents 
and  children.  The  word  occurs  in  classical  Greek  and 
in  the  Apocrypha,  but  not  elsewhere  in  the  New 
Testament.  In  honor  preferring  one  another. 
These  words  are  usually  regarded  as  being  an  exhor- 
tation to  humility  ;  decline  to  be  honored  yourself  in 
order  that  some  one  else  may  be  honored.  But  while 
Paul  does  in  this  chapter  inculcate  humility,  he  does 
not  do  so  in  these  words.  If  this  were  the  meaning 
here  the  word  "  one  another "  would,  as  the  Greek 
reader  knows,  require  to  be  in  the  genitive  instead  of 


Chapter  XII.  347 


V.  II : — Not  slothful  in  business ;  fervent  in  spirit;  serving 
the  Lord; 

V.  12  : — Rejoicing  in  hope  ;  patient  in  tribulation  ;  contin- 
uing ifistant  in  prayer  ; 

the  dative;  and  besides,  the  word  "preferring"  here 
means  to  "go  before,"  "  to  lead  the  way ;  "  it  does  not 
mean  "to  place  another  before  you."  The  Apostle 
here  teaches  that  each  Christian  should  lead  the  way, 
or  set  an  example,  to  all  others,  in  pa3dng  respect  or 
deference  to  others.  If  he  will  do  this  he  will  not 
be  likely  to  be  overquick  in  putting  himself  for- 
ward. 

V.  II.  Not  slothful  in  business.  In  diligence 
not  slothful ;  in  zeal,  or  activity,  as  a  Christian,  be  un- 
flagging ;  let  not  your  zeal  become  cold,  in  serving  the 
Lord  be  ever  warm,  fervent  in  spirit.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  Apostle  is  not  speaking  here  of  secular  mat- 
ters, only  in  so  far  as  in  secular  matters  we  are  con- 
sciously serving  the  Lord. 

V.  12.  Rejoicing  in  hope.  In  the  hope  which  is 
the  Christian's ;  the  hope  of  one  day  realizing,  shar- 
ing, or  possessing,  the  glory  of  God.  Having  such  an 
object  of  hope  ever  set  before  him  the  Christian 
may  well  rejoice  in  the  hardest  service  or  the  severest 
suffering.  Many  a  soldier  fighting  for  victory  has 
been  unmindful  of  his  wounds ;  the  athlete  running 
for  the  prize  thinks  not  of  his  bleeding  feet.  If  the 
Christian  only  endured,  lived,  fought,  run,  as  seeing 
"  that  which  is  invisible,"  he  too  might  rejoice  by  rea- 
son of  his  hope  even  in  tribulation.  Rom.  v.  2,  3  ; 
Eph.  iv.  4.  Continuing  instant  in  prayer.  Ever 
persevering  in  prayer ;   thus  alone  can  our  hope  be 


348         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  13: — Distributing  to  the  necessity  of  saints;  given  to 
hospitality. 

made  a  source  of  continual  joy  to  us ;  thus  alone  may 
we  patiently  endure  tribulation. 

V.  13.  Distributing  to  the  necessity  of  saints. 

The  word  "  distributing  "  in  its  noun  form  is  rendered 
"partakers"  in  ch.  xv.  27;  i  Peter  iv.  13;  i  Tim.  v. 
22.  As  a  verb  it  means  to  partake,  to  share  with ;  or 
in  a  causative  sense,  to  cause  others  to  share  with  us. 
The  Christian  who  has  enough  and  to  spare  should 
make  the  needy  Christian  a  partaker  of  his  abundance. 
The  word  "  saint  "  is  used  simply  for  "  Christian,"  the 
latter  term  not  having  come  into  common  use  when 
the  epistle  was  written.  Given  to  hospitality. 
The  Apostle  does  not  say  simply,  "  Be  hospitable," 
but  "  Pursue  hospitality ;  "  do  not  wait  for  occasions 
but  seek  them.  Hospitality  was  regarded  as  a  virtue 
of  very  high  value  by  the  early  Church.  Paul  men- 
tions it  as  one  of  the  requisite  qualifications  of  a 
bishop.  Titus  i.  8.  Particularly  was  this  virtue  nec- 
essary in  ancient  times  when  there  were  but  few 
houses  of  entertainment,  and  Christians  were  general- 
ly despised  and  persecuted,  and  Christian  teachers 
had  no  salaries  or  regular  support,  and  when  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Cross,  whether  as  apostles  or  in  other 
capacities,  were  laboring  to  extend  the  gospel.  The 
duty  of  hospitality  is  still  regarded  in  the  East  as  one 
of  the  most  sacred  character.  It  should  still  especially 
characterize  Christians  everywhere. 

V.  14.  Bless  them  that  persecute  you.    The 

exercise  of  love  must  extend  beyond  the  circle  of  the 
saints,  or  our  Christian  friends,  and  include  even  those 


Chapter  XII.  349 


V.  14 : — Bless  them  which  persecute  you  :  bless,  and  curse 
not. 

V.  15 : — Rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with 
them  that  weep. 

V.  16 : — Be  of  the  same  mind  one  toward  another.  Mind 
not  high  things,  but  condescend  to  men  of  low  estate.  Be  not 
wise  in  your  own  conceits. 

V.  17 : — Recompense  to  no  m.an  evil  for  evil.  Provide 
things  honest  in  the  sight  of  all  men. 

who  treat  us  wrongfully.  Instead  of  invoking  evil 
upon  them  or  in  any  way  seeking  to  injure  them,  we 
must  pray  for  their  good.     Matt.  v.  44 ;  I^uke  vi.  28. 

V.  15.  Rejoice  .  .  .  weep.  The  duty  of  sympa- 
thy, not  only  toward  members  of  the  Church,  but 
toward  all;  sympathy  both  in  joy  and  in  sorrow,  as 
occasion  may  arise.  These  verses  setting  forth  the 
duties  of  God's  people  utterly  forbid  the  Christian 
shutting  himself  up  within  himself,  or  within  small 
coteries  of  exclusive  friendships. 

V.  16.  Mind  not  high  things,  etc.  Set  not  your 
mind  on  high  circles,  high  association,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  lowly  and  humble.  There  can  be  no  such 
thing  in  the  Church  as  a  ''spiritual  aristocracy,"  or 
"  caste  distinctions."  Be  not  wise  in  your  own 
conceits.  For  this  feeling  of  self-importance  and 
superior  wisdom  is  too  often  the  cause  of  the  forma- 
tion in  the  Church  of  the  above  mentioned  coteries, 
which  may  become  so  harmful  as  to  be  worthy  of  no 
higher  name  than  cliques.     Prov.  iii.  7. 

V.  17.  Recompense  to  no  man  evil  for  evil. 

Render  to  no  man,  etc.  The  word  "  recompense  "  is 
as  Paul  wrote  it,  a  participle  and  not  a  verb.     In  the 


350  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  i8: — If  it  be  possible,  as  fnuch  as  lieth  in  you,  live  peace- 
ably with  all  men. 

preceding  verse  he  said,  Be  not  wise  in  your  own  con- 
ceits ;  be  not  self-important ;  be  not  vain  in  your  es- 
timate of  your  wisdom.  And  he  adds  :  "  Rendering  to 
no  man  evil  for  evil."  It  is  as  if  Paul  would  remind 
us  that  our  self-conceit,  or  vanity,  is  the  cause  of  most 
of  the  wounds  which  we  receive  or  inflict — and  this  is 
true.  The  vainest  are  the  most  sensitive,  and  the 
most  easily  hurt,  and  hence  are  oftenest  provoked  to 
render  evil  for  evil. 

Provide  things  bonest,  etc.  Take  thought  for 
things  honorable,  or  good,  and  not  so  much  thought 
of  yourself — look  away  from  yourself;  be  pre-occu- 
pied  with  good  in  the  sight  of  all  men.  He  who  has 
his  time  and  his  thoughts  thus  engaged  is  not  so  likely 
to  be  very  sensitive,  and  hence  not  so  liable  to  be 
wounded,  and  hence  again,  not  so  liable  to  be  tempted 
to  render  evil  for  evil.  But  the  precept  requires  the 
Christian  to  so  act  in  all  respects  as  to  give  rise  to  no 
suspicion  on  the  part  of  any  one  that  he  possesses  a 
disposition  that  would  prompt  him  to  render  to  any 
man  evil  for  evil,  or  to  otherwise  give  cause  of 
offence. 

V.  1 8.  Live  peaceably  with  all  men.  This  is 
an  absolute  duty  in  so  far  as  it  depends  on  ourselves. 
The  words  ''  if  it  be  possible,"  imply,  however,  that 
I  am  not  absolute  master  of  my  neighbor's  feelings 
and  conduct,  and  that  if  peace  is  absent  between  me 
and  him,  it  must  be  due  to  him  and  not  to  me.  My 
disposition  should  always  be  toward  peace,  and  to  this 
my  conduct  should  always  testify. 


Chapter  XII.  351 


V.  19  -.—Dearly  beloved,  avenge  not  yourselves,  but  rather 
give  place  unto  wrath  :  for  it  is  written,  Vengeance  is  mine  ; 
I  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord. 

V.  2.0 -.—Therefore  if  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him;  if  he 
thirst,  give  him  drink  :  for  in  so  doing  thou  shall  heap  coals 
of  fire  on  his  head. 

V.  21  '.—Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with 
good. 


V.  19.  Avenge  not  yourselves.  The  precept  in 
the  preceding  verse  suggests  t/iis  question :  But  sup- 
pose I  do  all  that  I  can  in  the  interest  of  peace,  and 
my  neighbor  nevertheless  treats  me  unjustly :  what 
then?  The  answer  is,  Dearly  beloved,  avenge  not 
yourselves.  Do  not  retaliate ;  it  is  hard  not  to  do  it. 
Justice  ought  to  be  respected,  that  is  true ;  evil  ought 
to  be  punished.  But  take  not  the  right  into  your 
own  hands  to  punish  it,  for  it  is  written  (Deut.  xxxii. 
35),  Vengeayice  is  mine,  etc.  God  is  the  just  Judge. 
Give  place  unto  wrath.  Refrain  from  avenging 
yourself.  Give  place  unto  God's  wrath,  he  will 
avenge  all  your  injuries.  Let  his  wrath  take  the 
place  of  your  wrath. 

V.  20.  Therefore,  The  Revised  Version  has  but, 
and  this  seems  to  be  the  better  reading.  Instead  of 
inflicting  vengeance  on  your  enemy,  do  the  very 
opposite ;  avail  yourself  of  every  opportunity  of  doing 
him  good.  This  kind  of  vengeance  is  lawful  to  you. 
Prov.  XXV.  21. 

V.  21.  Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  over- 
come evil  with  good.  Where  our  Savior  says, 
''  Resist  not  evil,"  he  means  resist  it  not  with  evil. 
The  weapon  with  which  we  should  resist  our  enemies 
is  the  weapon  of  love,  goodness  toward  them. 


352  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Every  man,  woman,  and  child,  may  help  every 
other  to  observe  these  precepts  of  peace.  One 
reason  why  it  is  so  difficult  for  any  given  Christian  to 
observe  them  is  that  so  few  do  observe  them,  but  seek 
rather  to  explain  them  away.  In  this  chapter  Paul 
has  described  the  ideal  Christian — perfect  in  all  the 
relations  of  life  herein  touched  upon. 

Duties  Civil  and  Social. 

(Chap.  XIII.) 

In  the  first  part  of  this  chapter  (verse  1-7),  the 
Apostle  earnestly  enjoins  upon  his  readers  the  duty 
of  obedience  to  the  civil  power.  He  bases  this  duty 
on  the  fact,  first,  that  civil  government  is  ordained  of 
God,  second,  that  the  aim  of  civil  government  is  the 
suppression  of  evil,  and  not  for  the  purpose  of  being 
a  terror  to  those  who  live  a  blameless  life.  He 
teaches  that  it  should  be  obeyed  not  through  fear  but 
because  it  is  right  to  obey  it. 

In  verses  8-14  Paul  speaks  of  various  social  duties 
— especially  that  debt  of  love  which  Christians  owe  to 
all  men.  He  here  founds  his  appeal  to  his  readers  on 
the  darkness  of  the  night  in  the  midst  of  which  they 
were  living,  and  the  nearness  of  the  dawn,  earnestly 
exhorting  them  to  live  as  becomes  those  who  walk 
not  in  the  night  but  in  the  day. 

The  teaching  of  Paul  in  regard  to  the  relation  of 
the  Christian  to  the  civil  government,  as  briefly  pre- 
sented in  this  chapter,  was  particularly  pertinent  in 
his  own  day.  The  dominant  government  of  the 
world,  when  not  positively  hostile  to  Christianity,  was 
positively  indifferent  to  it,  which  indifference  might 
on  slight  provocation  be  awakened  into  violent  per- 
secution.   The  Jewish  element  of  the  Church  was 


Chapter  XIII.  353 


also  naturally  hostile  to  Gentile  government  simply 
because  it  was  Gentile  and  pagan.  No  Jew,  who  re- 
spected the  good  opinion  of  his  countrymen  and  the 
traditions  of  his  race,  could  without  reluctance  pay 
tribute  to  Caesar,  or  hold  him  otherwise  than  in  lowest 
esteem  who  so  far  forgot  himself  as  a  Jew  as  to 
become  the  tool  of  Caesar  in  collecting  the  taxes. 
And  besides,  was  not  the  Church  itself  to  become  a 
kingdom — the  kingdom  of  God  as  distinguished  from 
the  kingdom  of  Caesar,  and  was  not  Christ  called 
L<ord,  and  was  he  not  expected  to  come  soon  and 
establish  himself  visibly  as  the  sovereign  of  that 
kingdom  ?  The  times  were  sensitive ;  and  the  appli- 
cations of  Christianity  to  the  various  relations  of  life 
were  as  yet  far  from  being  clearly  and  thoroughly 
apprehended  by  the  average  Christian.  Hence,  the 
Apostle  tells  them  in  substance  to  be  good,  law-abid- 
ing citizens,  basing  his  instruction  not  on  considera- 
tions of  policy,  not  on  the  importance  of  being  on 
good  terms  with  the  government  police  merely  as  a 
matter  of  prudence  or  worldly  wisdom.  Be  good, 
law-abiding  citizens  because  it  is  right  to  be  so.  Paul 
does  not  mean  that  God  has  ordained  bad  govern- 
ments, or  that  a  ruler  has  a  "divine  right"  to  rule 
wickedly ;  but  he  does  mean  that  God  ordained  gov- 
ernment, and  that  even  a  bad  government  is  better  for 
the  time  being  than  no  government,  anarchy,  nihilism, 
sedition.  These  teachings  of  the  Apostle  are  not 
obsolete.  Christianity  is  now,  and  has  long  been,  the 
strongest  bulwark  of  the  State,  and  it  is  due  in  part 
to  the  fact  that  Paul  wrote  this  thirteenth  chapter  to 
the  Romans,  in  which,  however,  he  only  voiced  again 
the  teachings  of  his  great  Master,  Christ.  God  is  a 
God,  not  of  lawlessness  but  of  social  order.  Chris- 
23 


354         'I^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


Chap.  XIII.,. V.  I : — Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher 
powers.  For  there  is  no  power  but  of  God:  the  powers  that 
be  are  ordained  of  God. 


tianity    needs    the    State,    and    so    the    State    was 
^'  ordained." 

V.  I.  Mvery  souL  Every  person.  Be  subject 
unto  the  higher  powers.  Be  obedient  to  the 
State,  law-abiding,  having  respect  both  for  the  civil 
offices  and  the  office-bearers.  The  contrary  of  this  is 
social  disorder  and  disintegration.  But  suppose  the 
State,  or  the  civil  law,  requires  me  to  do  that  which  is 
morally  wrong  ?  In  this  case  I  must  still  submit  to  it — 
that  is,  I  must  submit  quietly  to  the  punishment.  I 
must  obey  God  rather  than  the  law  of  the  civil  gov- 
ernment when  it  bids  me  to  do  what  is  morally 
wrong ;  but  when  the  State  sends  its  officers  to  punish 
me  for  disobeying  it,  I  must  not  resist  the  officers  by 
violence.  The  conduct  of  Paul  himself,  and  of  the 
many  martyrs  who  suffered  for  righteousness  sake, 
illustrates  this.  They  were  never  the  leaders  of  a 
mob ;  they  were  never  in  any  sense  seditious.  When 
the  State  commanded  them  to  worship  idols,  or  to 
abandon  their  religion,  they  did  not  do  it,  nor  did 
they  resist  the  authorities;  they  submitted  to  what- 
ever punishment  was  imposed.  After  a  while  the 
laws  were  changed. 

The  powers  that  he  are  ordained  of  God. 
God  did  not  cause  Nero  to  be  a  wicked  and  cruel 
emperor  ;  but  Paul  does  teach  here  that,  civil  govern- 
ment, as  such,  exists  by  a  divine  right.  He  did  not 
intend  that  mankind  should  live  in  this  world  in  a 
state  of   absolute  individualism  in  which  no  man 


Chapter  XIII.  355 


V.  2  : —  Whosoever  therefore  resisteth  the  power ^  resisteth 
the  ordinance  of  God:  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive  to 
themselves  damnation. 

recognizes  any  magistrate  but  himself,  and  no  law 
but  his  own  will.  Such  a  doctrine  of  individualism 
is  not  compatible  with  the  existence  of  either  Church 
or  State,  or  with  the  welfare  of  man  in  any  respect. 
If  the  government  requires  the  Christian  citizen  to  do 
what  is  morally  wrong,  the  Christian  must  disobey, 
of  course,  but  still  respect  the  government  by  sub- 
mitting to  the  penalty.  Paul  here,  however,  does  not 
discuss  the  divine  origin  of  government,  but  simply 
makes  his  statement  as  fact,  and  as  the  basis  of  his 
doctrine  of  obedience. 

V.  2.  Resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God.  When- 
ever a  man,  or  a  set  of  men,  does  that  which  is  calcu- 
lated to  cap  the  foundation  of  government,  and  to 
throw  the  social  fabric  into  ruin,  bringing  about  a 
reign  of  lawlessness,  he  is  resisting  an  ordinance  of 
God,  an  institution,  which  God  has  ordained.  And 
they  that  resist  shall  receive  to  themselves 
damnation,  or  judgment.  The  condemnation  of 
God  for  striking  at  one  of  the  institutions  of  God, 
to  wit,  government.  Matt.  xxvi.  52.  'It  is  not  nec- 
essary for  us  to  suppose  that  Paul  refers  here  to 
eternal  damnation.  He  means  that  those  who  thus 
resist  government  will  be  punished  in  this  world  by 
the  rulers  as  God's  ministers  w^hose  duty  it  is  to  see 
that  law  and  order  are  preserved.  Government  re- 
sides, under  God,  primarily  in  the  people,  whether 
the  /arm  be  monarchical  or  republican,  and  the 
Apostle  does  not  mean  that  a  people  may  not  change 


356         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  3 : — For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the 
evil.  Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power?  do  that 
which  is  good,  and  thou  shall  have  praise  of  the  same  : 

V.  4 : — For  he  is  the  tninister  of  God  to  thee  for  good.  But 
if  thou  do  that  which  is  evil,  be  afraid ;  for  he  beareth  not  the 
sword  in  vain :  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to 
execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil. 

its  form  of  government  or  its  rulers,  to  suit  itself. 
He  is  writing  in  the  interest  of  social  order  and 
against  anarchy  and  lawlessness.  The  Christian  in 
his  relation  to  this  matter  should  be  a  true  citizen, 
suffering  patiently  when  necessary,  rather  than  be 
seditious. 

V.  3.  'For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good 
works.  The  power  of  the  civil  government  extends 
only  to  men's  actions,  having  nothing  to  do  with  their 
motives;  hence  "good  works,"  instead  of  good  men. 
It  is  the  function  of  government,  not  to  be  a  terror  to 
law-abiding  citizens,  but  to  administer  justice,  to  pre- 
vent injustice,  to  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  to  pro- 
mote the  general  welfare  of  the  people,  etc.  This  is 
what  government  was  ordained  for.  It  is  therefore  a 
noble  and  beneficent  institution,  although  in  many  in- 
stances it  may  fulfill  its  functions  very  imperfectly. 
Nevertheless,  Christianity  can  not  and  does  not  array 
itself  against  the  civil  government,  nor  does  it 
espouse  the  cause  of  wicked  individual  rulers.  It 
says  to  the  Christian,  Be  a  virtuous  and  peaceable 
citizen,  even  though  a  Nero  should  be  the  ruler — and 
it  says  this  not  in  the  interest  of  Nero,  but  of  govern- 
ment— that  is,  in  the  interest  of  the  Church  and  of 
mankind  generally.  If  all  citizens  would  only  do  as 
they  are  here  bidden  there  would  be  fewer  bad  gov- 


Chapter  XIII.  357 


V.  5: — Wherefore  ye  must  needs  be  subject,  not  only  for 
wrath,  but  also  for  conscience's  sake. 

V.  6 : — For,  for  this  cause  pay  ye  tribute  also  :  for  they  are 
Gocfs  ministers,  attending  continually  upon  this  very  thing. 

ernments  and  magistrates  for  the  citizens  or  subjects 
to  complain  of. 

V.  4.  F^or  he  is  the  minister  of  God,  etc.  A 
continuation  of  verse  3.  ''An  unjust  law  or  a  tyran- 
nical power  may  make  the  act  of  a  good  man  appear 
falsely  as  an  evil  act  and  inflict  suffering  upon  him 
accordingly — a  fact  which  the  Apostle's  teaching  in 
this  verse  does  not  contradict,  but  the  result  of  this 
suffering  unjustly  inflicted  will  certainly  be,  sooner  or 
later,  the  reform  of  the  law  and  the  fall  of  the  power. 
Any  government  may  err  in  its  application  of  the 
principle  that  it  is  its  especial  duty  to  assert  justice ; 
but  no  government  has  ever  laid  down  as  a  principle 
the  punishment  of  good  and  the  reward  of  evil,  for 
thereby  it  would  be  its  own  destroyer."  (Godet). 
Beareth  not  the  sword  in  vain.  An  allusion  to 
the  sword  carried  by  Roman  provincial  magistrates  as 
a  symbol  of  the  fact  that  they  had  the  power  of  life  and 
death.  Msmy  commentators  have  thought  that  the 
words  of  Paul  here  teach  that  the  State  has  the  right 
to  inflict  capital  punishment ;  whether  this  be  true  or 
not,  he  does  teach  that  it  has  the  right  to  punish. 

V.  5.  Wherefore.  In  view  of  what  is  said  in 
verses  1-4.  Not  only  for  wrath.  Not  only  from 
fear  of  punishment.  But  also  for  conscience's 
sake.  Because  it  is  right,  as  an  obligation  we  owe 
to  God.  Obedience  to  the  civil  authorities  is  not  only 
a  political,  but  also  a  religious  duty. 


358  Thk  BPISTI.E  TO  THK  Romans. 

V.  7 : — Render  therefore  to  all  their  dues :  tribute  to  whom 
tribute  is  due ;  custom  to  whom  custom. ;  fear  to  whom,  fear ; 
honour  to  whom  honour. 

V.  8 : — Owe  no  man  any  thing,  but  to  love  one  another :  for 
he  that  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the  law. 


V.  6.  V^orj  for  this  cause.  To  what  does  Paul 
refer  as  the  cause  of  our  paying  tribute,  or  tax? 
Answer :  The  fact  that  government  is  a  divine  insti- 
tution ordained  for  the  purpose  of  asserting  justice, 
protecting  the  good,  and  punishing  the  evil-doers. 
The  word  "  pay  "  is  not  in  the  imperative  mood.  F'or 
they.  The  civil  magistrates,  as  representing  the 
government.  For  this  very  thing.  Protecting 
the  good  and  punishing  evil ;  performing  the  public 
service  generally. 

V.  7.  Render  therefore  to  all.  In  view  of  the 
nature  and  function  of  the  civil  government  as  just 
defined,  render  to  all  its  officers  their  dues.  Tribute. 
Poll-tax  and  tax  on  real  estate  are  especially  denoted 
by  this  word.  Custom.  Tax  on  merchandise.  The 
agents  of  the  Roman  government  who  collected  the 
taxes  were  to  the  Jews  both  in  Judea  and  Rome  ob- 
jects of  hatred  and  contempt.  They  were  the 
despised  publicans  mentioned  in  the  Gospels. 
"When,  therefore,  St.  Paul  exhorts  his  readers  at 
Rome  not  only  to  submit  to  taxation,  but  to  regard 
their  rulers,  even  the  tax-gatherers,  with  due  respect 
and  honor,  his  counsel  is  in  strong  contrast  with  that 
of  the  political  seducers  and  deceivers  who  at  this 
very  period  were  exciting  the  fierce  fanaticism  of 
their  countrymen  in  Judea."  (Gifford.)  Fear.  Rev- 
erence, or  respect.    The  teachings  of  Christianity,  as 


Chapter  XIII.  359 


V.  9 : — For  this,  Thou  shall  not  commil  adullery.  Thou  shall 
nol  kill,  Thou  shall  not  steal,  Thou  shall  not  bear  false  zvit- 
ness,  Thou  shall  not  covet ;  and  if  there  be  any  other  com- 
mandment, it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying,  namely, 
Thou  shall  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself 

instilled  into  the  character  of  the  citizen  are  the  best 
safeguard  of  the  civil  government. 

V.  8.  Oyve  no  man  any  thing,  but  to  love  one 
another,  Paul  does  not  mean  by  this  that  it  is 
wrong  for  Christians  to  contract  pecuniary  debts ;  he 
does  mean,  however,  that  these  pecuniary  debts  must 
be  scrupulously  discharged,  but  that  there  is  one 
debt  which  we  owe  one  another  which  we  can  never 
discharge — the  "immortal  debt"  of  love.  We  can 
never  be  relieved  of  the  obligation  to  love  one  anoth- 
er; and  we  should  always  consider  ourselves  as  owing 
this  debt.  For  be  that  loveth  another  hath 
fal£lled  the  law,  in  respect  to  his  relation  to  that 
other.  The  Apostle  had  stated  in  the  preceding 
verses  the  duty  of  obedience  to  the  civil  government, 
and  that  it  is  the  office  of  the  government  to  enforce 
justice ;  now  he  mentions  love  as  the  "  solid  support " 
of  justice,  the  very  basis  of  a  law-abiding  life.  If  all 
would  love  one  another  as  Paul  here  means  there 
would  never  be  any  occasion  for  the  hand  of  the  State 
to  be  severely  felt  by  any  one.  He  illustrates  in  the 
next  verse. 

V.  9.  For  this,  etc.  It  is  perfectly  obvious  that 
if  every  one  loved  his  fellow  man  as  he  should  he 
would  never  commit  any  of  the  crimes  against  his 
neighbor  which  the  law  names,  of  which  some  are 
mentioned  in  this  verse  ;  and  if  none  of  these  crimes 


360      '    The  BPIST1.K  TO  THE  Romans. 

V.  10 : — Love  worketh  no  ill  lo  his  neighbour :  therefore 
love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law. 

V.  1 1 : — And  that,  knowing  the  time,  that  now  it  is  high 
time  to  awake  out  of  sleep :  for  now  is  our  salvation  nearer 
than  when  we  believed. 

V.  12 : — The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at  hand:  let  us 
therefore  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness,  and  let  us  put  on  the 
armour  of  light. 

are  ever  committed  it  is  implied,  of  course,  that  the 
law  forbidding  them  has  been  fulfilled.  To  say  then, 
Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  murder,  steal,  etc.,  is 
only  another  way  of  saying.  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  th3^self.  And  this  commandment,  or 
debt,  abides  upon  us.  Our  neighbor,  be  he  one  near 
or  one  afar  off,  can  never  so  mistreat  us  as  to  relieve 
us  of  the  duty  of  loving  him. 

V.  10.  l,ove  worketb  no  ill,  etc.  He  who  loves 
his  neighbor  does  not  wish  in  any  way,  or  to  any 
extent,  to  injure  his  neighbor,  and  hence  he  does  not 
do  it,  and  hence  he  therein  fulfills  the  law ;  and  hence 
again,  "To  love  is  liberty,"  he  who  loves  hardly 
knowing  from  actual  experience  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  law  or  government. 

Vs.  II,  12.  And  that,  knowing  the  time.  Ob- 
serve that  which  I  have  been  exhorting  you  to  do, 
knowing  as  you  do  the  time — that  is,  knowing  that 
the  night  is  far  gone — it  is  now  time  for  us  to  awaken 
to  a  full  sense  of  the  obligations  that  are  upon  us  as 
Christians,  in  the  various  relations  of  life,  and  to 
arise  to  their  fulfillment.  It  is  a  solemn  appeal  which 
the  Apostle  addresses  to  his  readers  with  a  view  to 
quickening  their  Christian  life  and  activity.  "Awake, 
awake,  put  on  thy  strength  O  Zion!"      Isa.  lii.    i. 


•Chapter  XIII.  361 


V.  13  : — Let  us  walk  honestly,  as  in  the  day ;  not  in  rioting 
and  dru7iken7iess,  not  in  chambering  and  wantonness^  not  in 
strife  aud  envying  : 

V.  14: — But  put  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christy  and  make  not 
provision  for  the  flesh,  to  fulfill  the  lusts  thereof. 

The  appeal  is  addressed  to  every  Christian.      Bpli.  v. 

14;  vi.  II. 

¥or  now  is  our  salvation  nearer.  A  good 
many  commentators,  as  Tholuck,  Meyer,  Godet, 
Abbott,  and  others,  think  that  Paul  here  refers  to  the 
second  advent  of  Christ,  supposing  it  to  be  near  at 
hand,  and  that  the  attitude  of  the  Church  in  regard  to 
this  glorious  event  should  ever  be  one  of  expectancy 
and  readiness.  Certainly  the  Church  should  ever  be 
in  this  attitude.  But  although  the  Apostle  was  in- 
spired as  to  the  fact  that  Christ  would  come,  it  is  not 
necessary  for  us  to  suppose  that  he  was  inspired  as  to 
the  exact  time,  or  that  he  had  any  definite  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  date  of  that  great  event.  It  is  probable 
that  he  here  means  by  salvation  the  consummation 
of  the  work  of  Christ  in  their  deliverance  from  this 
present  evil  world,  and  their  introduction  into  the 
purity  and  blessedness  of  heaven.  We  are  hastening 
to  the  world  of  glory ;  eternity  is  just  at  hand ;  we 
have  no  time  to  waste  in  sluggish  idleness.  Such  is 
the  solemn  consideration  which  Paul  urges  on  his 
readers  as  a  motive  for  devotion  and  diligence.  This 
is  the  view  of  Hodge,  Prof.  Stuart,  Barnes,  and  some 
other  commentators  ancient  and  modern. 

Vs.  13,  14.  J^et  us  walk  honestly.  The  word 
honestly  is  here  used  in  its  old  sense  of  "  becoming- 
ly," or  in  a  seemly  manner.     Let  us  walk  as  becomes 


362  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

those  already  living  in  the  day-dawn  of  a  full  salva- 
tion. To  these  two  verses  the  great  Augustine  attrib- 
utes his  conversion.  Having  read  them,  he  says,  "  No 
further  would  I  read,  nor  did  I  need ;  for  instantly,  as 
the  sentence  ended,  by  a  light,  as  it  were,  of  security 
infused  into  my  heart,  all  the  gloom  of  doubt  van- 
ished awa3\"     {Confessions,  Bk.  VIII.,  ch.  xii.  29.) 

Fnt  ye  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Be  and  do 
like  Christ.  Be  intimately  united  to  him,  and  let  the 
fact  of  this  union  appear  in  your  daily  lives.  Make 
no  provision  for  the  ftesh.  Let  not  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  flesh  be  the  end  you  aim  at.  Live  for 
something  higher  than  the  indulgence  of  the  desires 
of  your  corrupt  natures. 

In  Relation  to  Things  Indifferent. 

(Chap.  XIV.) 

The  great  law  of  love  which  the  Apostle  has  so 
earnestly  commended  to  his  readers  in  the  two  pre- 
ceding chapters  is  here  applied  to  enforce  the  duty  of 
mutual  forbearance  in  respect  to  things  morally  indif- 
ferent. The  immediate  occasion  of  this  part  of  the 
epistle  is  that  two  tendencies,  or  parties,  had  already 
risen  in  the  Apostolic  Church  in  regard  to  certain 
practices,  in  themselves  neither  right  nor  wrong,  and 
which  were  only  too  rapidly  dividing  the  Christians 
into  two  mutually  antagonistic  parties.  Some  laid 
great  stress  on  the  duty,  or  supposed  duty,  of  observ- 
ing certain  holy  days  and  abstinence  from  meat  and 
wine,  probably  that  which  had  been  consecrated  to 
heathen  idols.  While  others  were  not  at  all  sensitive 
in  regard  to  the  matter,  but  were,  on  the  contrary, 
proud  of  their  Christian  freedom.     The  one  party  was 


Chapter  XIV.  363 


disposed  to  criticise  and  take  offense ;  while  the  other 
was  no  less  disposed  to  despise  their  brethren  of  the 
weaker  conscience  and  thus  give  offense.  The  chap- 
ter seems  to  be  directed  chiefly  to  the  stronger,  from 
which  some  commentators  have  inferred  that  they 
were  the  majority. 

The  subject  of  the  chapter  is  one  of  perennial  inter- 
est, for  although  the  question  as  to  the  Christian's 
moral  right  to  eat  swine  meat,  or  meat  offered  to 
heathen  idols,  etc.,  has  long  since  ceased  to  be  one  of 
any  ethical  importance,  there  are  other  subjects  ever 
ready  to  take  the  place  of  these,  as  the  dance,  the 
theater,  the  card  table,  etc.  How  lax  is  it  lawful  for 
me  to  be  in  my  Christian  life  ?  or,  How  strict  must  I 
be  ?  are  the  two  questions,  or  the  two  forms  of  one 
and  the  same  question,  which  young  converts  espe- 
cially are  ever  prone  to  ask.  To  the  latter  form 
chiefly  the  Apostle  addresses  himself  in  this  chapter, 
and  his  words  can  not  be  resolved  into  a  direct  yes  or 
no.  There  is  neither  in  this  chapter,  nor  elsewhere, 
a  direct  prohibition  of  engaging  in  dancing,  theatrical 
amusements,  and  the  like.  "  This  is,"  says  Olshausen, 
"  doubtless,  in  part  to  be  explained  by  the  circum- 
stance that,  in  the  apostolic  age,  the  severe  tone 
tended  much  rather  to  exaggerated  strictness  than  to 
laxity "  of  morals ;  though  it  can  not  be  said  that 
there  is  a  like  tendency  among  Christians  at  the  pres- 
ent day  to  exaggerated  strictness.  But  the  same 
writer  justl}^  remarks  that  the  stress  of  Scripture  is 
alwaj^s  laid,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  renewal  of  the 
heart,  convinced  that  with  this  inward  change  a  cor- 
responding change  of  outward  life  will  be  spontane- 
ously produced.  While  no  heart  is  ever  renewed  by 
forsaking  dances,  plays,  and  other  such  things,  yet 


364         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  XIV.,  V.  I : — Him  that  is  weak  in  the  faith  receive 
ye,  but  7wt  to  doubtful  disputations. 


the  heart  if  renewed  will  of  itself  lose  its  relish  for 
such  matters. 

There  is  a  sense,  indeed,  in  which  it  is  true  that 
there  is  nothing  morally  indifferent,  and  that  the  most 
trivial  thing  may  be  good  or  evil,  according  to  the 
circumstances  under  which,  the  manner  in  which,  or 
the  motive  from  which,  it  is  done;  and  thus  Paul 
teaches  in  the  present  chapter.  And  because  the 
moral  character  of  these  so-called  matters  of  indiffer- 
ence— adiaphora,  as  the  old  writers  called  them — is  to 
be  determined  by  the  accompanying  circumstances, 
manner,  motive,  spirit,  etc.,  is  it  impossible  in  any 
given  instance  to  say  yes  or  no  to  the  question.  Is  it 
right  or  wrong  to  do  so  and  so  ?  But  no  one  can  read 
this  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  without 
seeing  that  Paul's  advice  is.  Always  decide  the  ques- 
tion in  favor  of  your  doubt,  and  in  your  judgment  of 
those  who  differ  with  you,  be  charitable,  especially  if 
you  belong  to  the  stronger  party.  The  pious  but 
uninspired  Spener  said  that  a  Christian  should  do 
nothing  which  he  can  not  do  to  the  glory  of  God,  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  and  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow 
Christian,     i  Cor.  x.  31. 

V.  I.  Him  that  is  weak  in  the  faith.  Weak 
in  the  faith  does  not  mean  having  little  faith,  or  to  be 
disposed  to  doubt  in  regard  to  the  Christian  religion. 
It  means  the  Christian's  own  faith  in  regard  to  the 
true  extent  of  Christian  liberty,  or,  in  regard  to  mat- 
ters of  conscience.  Receive  ye.  Admit  to  your 
fellowship.     This  implies  that  the  "weak"  were  in 


Chapter  XIV.  365 


V.  2 : — For  one  believeth  that  he  may  eat  all  things :  anoth- 
er y  who  is  weak,  eateth  herbs. 

V.  3 : — Let  not  him  that  eateth  despise  him,  that  eateth  not ; 
and  let  not  him  which  eateth  not  judge  him  that  eateth :  for 
God  hath  received  him. 

the  minority  at  Rome.  But  not  to  doubtful 
disputations.  Do  not  pass  judgments  upon  their 
conscientious  scruples,  and  thus  treat  them  unkindly. 

V.  2.  For  one  believeth,  etc.  This  verse  in  its 
two  clauses  defines  the  ** strong"  and  the  "weak" 
respectively.  The  strength  of  the  one  consisted  in 
the  fact  that  their  faith  in  regard  to  Christian  liberty 
was  such  that  they  could  eat  all  things,  and  do  other 
such  matters,  with  a  good  conscience ;  the  weakness 
of  the  other  consisted  in  the  fact  that  their  faith  in 
regard  to  Christian  liberty  would  permit  them  to  eat 
only  vegetables.  It  seems  from  the  Apostle's  lan- 
guage here  that  the  conscience  of  the  weak  prohibited 
them  from  eating  not  onl}^  the  flesh  of  unclean  ani- 
mals, and  that  which  had  been  consecrated  to  idols, 
but  all  flesh  whatsoever.     They  were  vegetarians. 

V.  3.  I/et  not  him  that  eateth,  Paul  does  not 
decide  this  question  of  conscience,  by  saying  that  it  is 
right  or  that  it  is  wrong  to  eat.  He  evidently  regards 
it  as  a  matter  of  indifference  in  itself;  but  he  does  for- 
bid those  who  have  the  greater  liberty  of  conscience 
from  condemning  those  who  have  the  less  liberty  as 
narrow  minded  and  overscrupulous.  More  than  one 
local  Church  in  our  day  has  been  ruinously  divided  by 
the  failure  on  the  part  of  the  "  strong,"  or  liberal,  to 
respect  the  consciences  of  the  more  punctilious.  But 
these  latter  should  be  no  less  charitable  in  their  feel- 


366         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  4: — Who  art  thou  that  judgest  another  man's  servant? 
to  his  own  master  he  standeth  or  falleth ;  yea,  he  shall  be 
holden  up :  for  God  is  able  to  m,ake  him  stand. 

ings  and  conduct  toward  the  strong;  and  neither 
party  should  wait  for  the  other  to  make  the  first  ad- 
vance in  charity. 

¥or  God  hath  received  him.  That  is,  both  the 
strong  and  the  weak  into  his  Church,  without  making 
either  eating  or  abstinence  from  eating  a  condition  of 
admission,  and  for  this  reason  neither  party  should 
uncharitably  condemn  the  other. 

V.  4.  Who  art  thou  that  judgest  another 
man^s  servant  ?  Or  simply,  another's  servant — the 
other  in  this  case  being  God  or  Christ.  IVAo  art  thou, 
what  right  hast  thou  ?  There  is  no  need  of  suppos- 
ing, as  some  do,  that  this  question  is  addressed  to  the 
weak,  and  not  also  to  the  strong,  for  neither  one  is  re- 
sponsible to  the  other,  and  neither  has  the  right  to  ex- 
ercise severity  of  judgment  toward  the  other.  For 
God  is  able  to  acquit  and  save  him,  however  thou  may- 
est  condemn  him. 

"  It  can  not  fail  to  be  remarked,"  says  Dr.  Hodge  on 
this  verse,  "  how  differently  the  Apostle  speaks  of  the 
same  things  under  different  circumstances.  He  who 
circumcised  Timothy,  who  conformed  in  many  things 
to  the  law  of  Moses,  and  to  the  Jews  became  a  Jew, 
and  who  here  exhorts  Christians  to  regard  their  ex- 
ternal observances  as  matters  of  indifference,  resisted 
to  the  uttermost  as  soon  as  these  things  were  urged 
as  matters  of  importance,  or  were  insisted  upon  as 
necessary  to  acceptance  with  God.  He  would  not 
allow  Titus  to  be  circumcised,  nor  give  place  even  for 


Chapter  XIV.  367 


V.  y.—One  man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another:  another 
esteemeth  every  day  alike.  Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded 
in  his  own  mind. 

V.  e.—He  that  regardeth  the  day,  regardeth  it  unto  the 
Lord ;  and  he  that  regardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he  doth 
not  regard  it.  He  that  eatcth,  eateth  to  the  Lord,  for  he 
giveth  God  thanks;  and  he  that  eateth  not,  to  the  Lord  he 
eateth  not,  and  giveth  God  thanks. 


an  hour  to  false  brethren,  who  had  come  in  privily  to 
spy  out  our  liberty.  Gal.  ii.  3-5.  What  might  be 
safely  granted,  if  asked  and  given  as  a  matter  of  in- 
difference, became  a  fatal  apostacy  when  demanded  as 
a  matter  of  necessity  or  a  condition  of  salvation." 

V.  5.  One  man  esteemeth  one  day  above  an- 
other. The  Jews  regarded  their  various  festival  and 
fast  days,  as  well  as  their  Sabbaths,  as  more  sacred 
than  other  days,  and  on  becoming  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity retained,  to  a  great  extent,  their  former  scru- 
ples on  this  subject;  whereas,  the  Gentile  converts 
naturally  would  not  be  so  disposed  to  regard  the  va- 
rious festival  and  fast  days  as  specially  sacred.  I^et 
every  man  he  fully  persuaded  in  his  own 
mind,  in  regard  to  his  view  of  this  matter;  and  let 
no  one  base  his  conviction  of  the  right  or  wrong  in- 
volved in  the  observance  or  non-observ-ance  of  these 
days  on  mere  opinion  or  prejudice.  This  should  be 
the  attitude  also  of  Christians  of  the  present  day  in 
regard  to  such  matters. 

V.  6.  He  that  regardeth  the  day.  The  Apostle 
in  this  verse  tells  us  why  regarding  the  day  on  the 
part  of  the  "weak"  and  not  regarding  it  on  the  part 
of  the  "strong"  are  equally  admissible.  It  is  be- 
cause they  both  proceed  from  a  desire  to  honor  and 


368  The  EPIST1.E  TO  THE  Romans. 

serve  the  Lord.  So  with  eating  or  not  eating  meats. 
It  is  equally  true  that  if  any  one  at  the  present  day 
should  be  assured  in  his  own  mind  that  he  could  bet- 
ter honor  and  serve  the  I^ord  by  attending  the  theater 
or  by  indulging  in  the  dance,  and  in  other  such  ways, 
than  he  could  by  refraining  from  these  things,  it 
would  be  quite  admissible  for  him  to  do  so,  so  far  as 
his  being  accepted  of  the  Lord  is  concerned.  But  it 
is  certain  that  no  one  in  doing  these  things  is  ever 
actuated  by  any  such  consideration ;  not  even  is  the 
member  of  the  Church.  On  the  contrary  they  often 
do  them,  having  at  the  same  time  a  strong  suspicion 
that  they  are  dishonoring  the  Lord. 

Some  commentators  have  thought  that  Paul  meant 
to  include  Sunday,  or  the  Lord's  day,  in  what  he  here 
says  in  regard  to  the  observance  of  holy  days.  On 
the  contrary,  that  he  does  not  teach  in  what  he  here 
says  (or  elsewhere)  that  it  is  a  matter  of  intrinsic  in- 
difference whether  we  observe  a  Sunday,  or  Lord's 
day,  and  that  all  days  may  be  devoted  alike  to  ordi- 
nary business  or  amusements,  is  evident  from  the  fol- 
lowing reasons : 

I.  It  is  obvious  from  the  context  that  the  Apostle 
has  reference  to  certain  customs  peculiar  to  the  Jews 
as  such,  and  which  the  Jewish  converts  thought  ought 
still  to  be  observed  by  Christians  whether  Jewish  or 
Gentile.  He  makes  no  allusion  to  any  recently  in- 
stituted and  distinctly  Christian  custom.  We  might 
as  well  suppose  that  he  means  to  include  the  Christian 
rites  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's-supper,  as  to  suppose 
that  he  had  reference  to  the  Christian  Sunday  or 
Lord's  day.  But  no  one  ever  supposed  that  he  meant 
to  teach  any  thing  here  in  regard  to  these  Christian 
institutions. 


Chapter  XIV.  369 


2.  There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  debate 
whatever  among  the  early  Christians  as  to  whether 
one  day  should  be  sacredly  distinguished  from  the 
other  days  of  the  week ;  but  this  day  was  not  known 
among  them  as  the  Sabbath,  or  as  a  Sabbath — the  name 
by  which  the  Jews  designated  not  only  the  seventh 
day  of  the  week,  but  also  several  other  days  which 
were  regarded  by  them  as  holy.  The  Christians, 
whether  Jewish  or  Gentile,  observed  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  which  was  called  the  Lord's  day,  and  by 
these  two  names  alone  was  it  known,  i  Cor.  xvi.  2 ; 
Acts  XX.  7;  Rev.  i.  10.  Compare  also  Col.  ii.  16,  and 
Gal.  iv.  10,  in  which  the  Apostle  is  evidently  speaking 
of  the  Jewish  sacred  days. 

3.  The  reader  should  also  notice  that  it  is  explicitly 
said  here  that  he  who  regards  the  day  regards  it  unto 
the  Lord,  and  he  who  regards  it  not  is  moved  or  in- 
spired by  a  like  desire  to  honor  and  serve  the  Lord. 
But  is  it  at  all  probable  that  there  were  any  Christians 
at  Rome  who  wished  to  disregard  the  Lord's  day  with 
a  view  to  honoring  and  serving  the  Lord  ?  Is  it  prob- 
able that  any  Christian  in  disregarding  it  has  ever 
been  actuated  by  such  a  motive  ? 

It  is  true  that  all  days  are  in  some  sense  holy,  and 
are  to  be  devoted  to  honoring  and  serving  the  Lord, 
whether  in  the  discharge  of  our  usual  duties,  or  now 
and  then  in  some  form  of  special  service.  But  the 
keeping  of  Sunday  (or  a  seventh  of  the  time),  not 
merely  as  a  day  of  physical  rest,  but  as  a  day  holy 
unto  the  Lord,  is  not  incompatible  with  this  idea  of 
Christian  spirituality,  and  it  certainly  was  not  so  re- 
garded by  Paul. 

It  was,  on  the  contrary,  calculated  to  keep  ever 
present  in  the  Christian's  consciousness  this  idea  of 
24 


370  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 


Christian  spirituality,  reminding  him,  as  it  did  that 
not  only  did  a  seventh  of  his  time  belong  to  the  Lord, 
being  therefore  holy  time,  but  that  in  reality  all  his 
time  belonged  to  the  Lord  and  was  therefore  holy. 
So  far,  therefore,  as  the  matter  of  Christian  spiritually 
is  concerned,  the  Christian  Sabbath,  or  Sunday, 
served  the  same  purpose  to  the  Christian  that  the 
Jewish  Sabbath  served  to  the  Jew.  As  one  purpose 
of  the  ancient  law  requiring  the  land  to  be  left  fallow 
every  seventh  year  was  to  remind  the  people  that  the 
land  belonged  to  the  Lord  every  year,  so  one  purpose 
of  the  law  requiring  one  seventh  of  the  time  to  be 
observed  as  hol}'^  unto  the  Lord  was  to  remind  the 
people  that  all  their  time  was  really  holy  time.  And 
the  same  import  belongs  to  the  Christian  Sabbath, 
ivhether  it  be  one  day  of  the  week  or  another.  It 
seems  to  me,  therefore,  unnecessary  for  Godet,  and 
some  other  commentators,  in  order  to  avoid  weaken- 
ing the  idea  of  Christian  spirituality,  or  of  dividing 
the  Christian's  time  into  two  distinct  parts,  the  holy 
and  the  secular,  to  make  the  distinction  between  the 
Christian  Sabbath  and  other  days  consist  chiefly  in 
the  fact  that  the  former  is  a  rest  day.  It  is  chiefly  a 
holy  day,  a  day  hallowed,  the  rest  element  being  in  the 
case  of  many,  as  for  instance  pastors,  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  In  so  far  as  the  idea  of  rest  is  present  in 
our  idea  of  the  day,  it  must  be  the  idea  of  a  holy  rest. 
Apart  from  this  it  is  the  Sabbath  neither  of  the  Old 
nor  of  the  New  Testament,  but  only  of  the  business 
corporation  which  rest  one  seventh  of  the  time 
merely  as  a  matter  of  self-interest,  and  not  because  it 
regards  one  seventh  of  the  time  as  holy  and  the  re- 
maining six  sevenths  as  secular.  The  Christian 
Church  in  insisting  upon  the  observance  of  Sunday 


Chapter  XIV.  371 


V.  7  : — For  none  of  us  liveth  to  himself  and  no  man  dieth 
to  hunself. 

V.  8: — For  whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord ;  and 
whether  we  die,  we  die  unto  the  Lord :  whether  we  live  there- 
fore, or  die,  we  are  the  Lord 's. 

V.  9 : — For  to  this  end  Christ  both  diedy  and  rose^  and  re- 
vived,  that  he  might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living. 

as  a  day  of  rest  renders  a  good  service  to  the  corpora- 
tion ;  to  the  Christian  himself  the  holy  Sabbath 
should  be  an  ever  observed  memorial  that  all  his  time 
is  holy. 

Vs.  7,  8.  V^or  no  one  liveth  to  himself,  etc. 
This  is  the  universal  principle  on  which  rests  the 
statement  in  verse  6.  No  Christian,  who  is  ''fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind,"  who  has  an  abiding 
desire  to  attain  to  the  standard  of  ideal  Christian 
character  and  life — and  every  Christian  is  supposed 
to  have  such  desire — no  Christian,  the  apostle  means, 
can  have  his  own  will  and  pleasure  as  the  conscious 
aim  of  his  existence.  His  aim  will  ever  be  to  glorify 
God  by  living  according  to  his  will.  No  man  dieth 
to  himself.  No  Christian.  As  he  has  lived  so  does 
he  die — unto  the  Lord — trustfully  acquiescing  in  his 
will.  The  art  of  dying  well  is  to  be  learned  by  living 
well. 

V.  9.  For  to  this  end  Christ  both  died  and 
rose  ....  that  he  might  be  Lord  both  of  the 
dead  and  the  living,  Christ  is  Lord  of  all  Chris- 
tians, not  only  of  those  who  are  living  on  earth,  but 
of  those  who  having  died  are  now  living  in  the  other 
world.  To  Christ  the  Christian  owes  submissive  and 
loving  allegiance  and  service,  while  in  this  life,  and 


372  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  lo : — But  why  dost  thou  judge  thy  brother  ?  or  why  dost 
thou  set  at  nought  thy  brother  ?  for  we  shall  all  stand  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  Christ. 

in  respect  to  the  manner  and  time  of  his  death,  and 
during  his  life  after  death;  and  Christ  secured  this 
right  and  this  actual  lordship  over  the  Christian  by- 
dying  and  rising  again  for  him.  So  far  as  the  Chris- 
tian is  concerned  this  was  the  object  of  Christ's  death 
and  resurrection.  He  did  not  die  and  rise  again  in 
order  that  we  might  be  the  property,  so  to  speak,  oi 
any  other  Lord  than  himself;  and  when  the  Christian 
calls  Christ  Lord,  he  does  not  do  so  in  the  general 
sense  in  which  any  man  might  do  so,  but  in  a  special 
and  peculiar  sense.  He  is  the  Lord  of  all  men  and  all 
things  by  right  of  creation;  he  is  Lord  of  the 
Christian  by  the  additional  right  of  his  death  and 
resurrection.  The  only  difference,  however,  in  this 
respect  between  the  believer  and  the  unbeliever  is, 
that  the  former  recognizes  and  lovingly  acquiesces  in 
this  right  of  Christ  over  him,  while  the  latter  does  not. 

V.  lo.  Bnt  why  dost  thou  judge  thy  broth- 
er? The  word  "thou"  is  emphatic,  as  Paul  here 
uses  it.  But  thou,  why  dost  thou  judge,  etc.  It  is 
not  the  province  of  the  "weak"  to  condemn  the 
"  strong,"  nor  of  the  strong  to  set  at  naught  or  despise 
the  weak.  All  shall  appear  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ,  whose  province  alone  it  is  to  judge.  The 
first  clause  of  the  verse  relates  to  the  weak  or  Jewish 
Christians,  the  second  to  the  Gentile  converts,  and 
the  last  clause  to  both.  The  Revised  Version  reads, 
"  the  judgment-seat  of  God."  See,  however,  2  Cor. 
V.  10. 


Chapter  XIV. 


373 


V.  II : — For  it  is  written.  As  /  live,  saith  the  Lord,  every 
knee  shall  bow  to  me,  and  every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God. 

V.  12: — So  then  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of 
himself  to  God. 

We  know  not  when  the  day  will  come  when  Chris- 
tians will  wholly  cease  to  disagree  among  themselves 
in  regard  to  matters  both  of  doctrine  and  duty.  But 
Christian  controversy  may  be  and  should  be  carried 
on  without  acrimony  and  mutual  alienation.  "  Owing 
to  ignorance,  early  prejudice,  weakness  of  faith,  and 
other  causes,  there  may  and  must  exist  a  diversity  of 
opinion  and  practice  on  minor  points  of  duty.  But 
this  diversity  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  rejecting  from 
Christian  fellowship  any  member  of  the  family  of 
Christ.  It  is,  however,  one  thing  to  recognize  a  man 
as  a  Christian,  and  another  to  recognize  him  as  a  suit- 
able minister  of  a  Church,  organized  on  a  particular 
form  or  system  of  doctrine."  Paul  in  this  verse 
speaks  of  these  differing  Christians  as  brethren  to 
one  another,  in  view  of  which  fact  they  should  act 
and  feel  in  respect  to  ohe  other. 

V.  II.  For  it  is  written.  Isaiah  xlv.  23.  The 
Apostle  gives  merely  the  sense,  and  not  the  exact 
words,  of  the  passage  quoted.  The  idea  is  that  every 
one  shall  recognize  the  authority  of  God  as  the  Su- 
preme Ruler  and  Judge. 

V.  12.  So  then  every  one  of  ns  shall  give  ac- 
count of  himself  The  fact  stated  in  the  preced- 
ing verse  on  the  authority  of  an  Old  Testament 
prophet  implies  that  each  one  without  exception  shall 
give  account  of  himself  to  God.  *  The  "  every  knee," 
or  "every  tongue,"  of  the  prophet,  does  not  distin- 


374  '^HE  Bpisti^e  to  the  Romans. 

V.  13 : — Let  us  not  therefore  judge  one  another  any  more : 
but  judge  this  rather ^  that  no  man  put  a  stumblingblock  or 
an  occasion  to  fall  in  his  brother's  way. 

guish  between  the  believer  and  the  unbeliever,  the 
proclamation  being  addressed  to  "  the  ends  of  the 
earth  "  (Isaiah  xlv.  22),  but  "  the  every  one  of  us,"  of 
the  Apostle,  has  reference  particularly  to  believers, 
including  both  the  "weak,"  or  overscrupulous  Chris- 
tians, and  the  "  strong,"  or  more  liberal  Gentile 
Christians.  Since  every  one  of  both  these  classes 
should  have  to  give  an  account  of  himself,  how  could 
one  dare  presume  to  pronounce  judgment  upon 
another. 

In  John  iii.  18  (King  James  version),  "  He  that 
believeth  on  him  is  not  condemned."  The  word 
"condemned"  is  the  same  Greek  word  that  is  here 
rendered  judge  (verse  13).  The  Revised  Version 
reads,  "  He  that  believeth  on  him  is  not  judged," 
which  is  a  more  strictly  accurate  rendering,  though 
the  King  James  version  does  no  violence  to  the  sense. 
It  is  implied  that  the  judgment  on  the  unbeliever  is 
an  unfavorable  one,  and  hence  one  of  condemnation. 
Paul  says  that  even  believers  shall  appear  before  the 
judgment  seat,  but  as  condemnation  is  not  pro- 
nounced upon  them  this  very  negative  fact  passes  as 
an  act  of  judgment.  There  is  therefore  no  contradic- 
tion between  the  words  of  Paul  and  those  of  his 
Master  as  recorded  by  John. 

V.  13.  Itet  us  not  therefore.  In  view  of  the 
fact  that  each  believer  is  himself  to  be  judged  by  the 
all-wise  Judge,  it  ill  becomes  him  to  judge  another 
believer.     He  should  rather  see  to  it  that  he  in  no 


Chapter  XIV.  375 


V.  14 :  — /  know,  a?td  am  persuaded  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that 
there  is  nothing  unclea^i  of  itself:  but  to  him  that  esteemeth 
any  thing  to  be  unclean,  to  him,  it  is  unclean. 

way  furnish  an  occasion  to  his  brother  Christian  to 
sin  by  causing  him  to  act  in  opposition  to  the  dictates 
of  his  conscience,  whether  by  persuading  him,  or 
"  despising,"  or  ridiculing  him,  or  by  setting  him  a 
bad  example,  or  by  otherwise  tempting  him. 

V.  14.  1  know.  This  word  denotes  such  a  knowl- 
edge as  any  one  might  obtain  by  a  study  of  the  spirit- 
ual import  of  the  teachings  of  the  Old  Testament. 
The  spiritual  import,  however,  the  Jews  and  Jewish 
Christians  had  to  a  great  extent  overlooked.  Am  per- 
suaded. He  had  reached  a  definite  conviction  in 
regard  to  the  matter  in  dispute  between  the  **  weak  " 
and  the  "  strong,"  and  his  conscience  was  no  longer 
disturbed  by  such  questions.  By  the  Lord  Jesus. 
Rather,  In  the  Lord  Jesus.  Paul  not  only  knows  the 
truth  of  what  he  here  affirms  as  any  one  might  reach 
a  conclusion  by  his  own  investigation,  but  he  is  "  per- 
suaded" of  its  truth  by  the  fact  that  he  is  an  apostle* 
in  union  with  Christ,  and  inspired  to  utter  his  truth. 

That  there  is  nothing  unclean  of  itself. 
The  word  "  unclean  "  is  the  same  as  the  word  "  com- 
mon "  in  Acts  X.  14-28 ;  xi.  8,  and  is  used  in  the  same 
sense.  It  is  no  more  a  sin  to  eat  one  kind  of  meat 
than  another,  or  to  eat  meat  than  it  is  to  eat  vegeta- 
bles, so  far  as  the  thing  eaten  is  in  itself  concerned. 
But  to  him  that  esteemeth,  etc.  The  interest  of 
truth,  and  hence  the  interest  of  his  readers,  requires 
Paul  to  express  his  conviction  on  the  side  of  the 
**  strong,"  but  at  the  same  time  with  such  qualification 


376         The  BPIST1.E  TO  THE  Romans. 

V.  15  : — But  if  thy  brother  be  grieved  with  thy  meat^  now 
walkest  thou  not  charitably.  Destroy  not  him  with  thy  meat, 
for  whom,  Christ  died. 

as  to  place  the  strong  under  certain  limits  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  liberty.  Whether  it  is  a  sin  for  one  to 
eat  meat,  or  to  do  any  other  such  matter,  depends  on 
the  attitude  of  his  conscience  toward  it ;  if  he  does 
it,  believing  it  to  be  a  sin,  then  he  is  just  as  guilty  as 
if  it  were  really  a  sin  in  itself.  Hence,  those  whose 
consciences,  or  sense  of  duty,  permitted  them  to  eat 
meat  should  not  in  any  way  induce  others  to  violate 
their  consciences. 

The  question  as  to  the  right  translation  of  the  word 
rendered  "but,"  in  this  verse,  as  in  the  case  of  almost 
every  other  word  in  the  epistle,  has  given  rise  to  a 
difference  of  opinion.  The  word  means  "  except,"  or- 
dinarily ;  but  to  so  render  it  here  would  make  Paul 
say,  "  Nothing  is  unclean  of  itself  except  to  him  that 
esteemeth  it  to  be  unclean."  But  the  apostle  does  not 
mean  to  say  that  for  one  to  esteem  a  thing  to  be  unclean 
or  wrong  makes  it  unclean  or  wrong,  of  itself  or  in 
itself;  though  this  does  make  it  wrong  for  him  to  do 
the  thing.  The  Revisers  have  attempted  an  unnec- 
essary compromise  between  lexical  exactness  and  the 
plain  meaning  of  the  Apostle  as  given  in  the  King 
James  version  by  rendering  the  word  "  save  that." 
If,  however,  we  ignore  the  presence  of  the  phrase, 
"  of  itself,"  we  are  at  liberty  to  give  to  the  word  its 
usual  meaning  **  except." 

V.  15.  Bnt  if  thy  brother  he  grieved.    The 

act,  whatever  it  may  be,  may  be  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence in  itself,  and  my  conscience  may  allow  me  the 


Chapter  XIV.  377 

V.  i6  '.—Let  not  then  your  good  be  evil  spoken  of: 
V,  i'j',—For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink; 
but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

liberty  of  doing  it,  but  if  in  exercising  this  liberty  I 
grieve  my  weaker  brother  or  cause  him  to  sin,  I  am 
violating  the  law  of  love,  and  am  therein  sinning  my- 
self. I  am  destroying  one  for  whom  Christ 
died— that  is,  I  am  doing  him  such  an  injury  as 
tends  to  his  destruction.  If  Christ  could  die  for  him, 
it  is  saying  very  little  for  my  supposed  Christlike 
spirit  if  I  can  not  deny  myself  somewhat  for  him. 

V.  16.  Xet  not  then  your  good  be  evil  spoken 

of.  In  view  of  these  considerations  let  no  unchar- 
itable use  of  your  liberty  of  conscience  give  occasion 
to  your  more  scrupulous  brethren  to  condemn  and 
speak  evil  of  the  liberty  which  to  you  is  a  real  good. 
While  these  words  are  addressed  primarily  to  the 
"strong,"  the  "weak"  should  also  remember  that 
they  too  may  injure  the  cause  of  Christ  by  insisting 
too  strenuously  upon  matters  which  are  to  others 
matters  of  indifference.  Both  parties  are  supposed 
to  be  "  persuaded,"  each  "  in  his  own  mind,"  both  are 
supposed  to  be  trying  to  do  right,  and  each  should  be 
willing  to  admit  this.  For,  after  all,  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  not  meat  and  drink,  etc. 

V.  17.  For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat 
and  drink.  True  religion  does  not  consist  in  the 
external  observances,  or  in  being  able  to  do  with  a 
clear  conscience  that  which  our  neighbor's  conscience 
will  not  allow  him  to  do.  It  consists  in  the  right- 
eousness, joy,  and  peace,  of  which  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
the  author.     Righteousness  here  means  moral  excel- 


378         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  i8 : — For  he  that  in  these  things  serveth  Christ  is  accept^ 
able  to  God,  and  approved  of  men. 

V.  19: — Let  us  therefore  follow  after  the  things  which 
make  for  peace,  and  things  wherewith  one  may  edify  an- 
other, 

lence,  or  rectitude,  as  manifested  particularly  in  re- 
spect for  our  neighbor's  convictions.  By  peace  is 
meant  harmony  with  our  brethren,  including  also 
peace  of  conscience  and  with  God.  Joy  is  the  holy 
gladness  which  the  Spirit  of  God  breathes  around 
those  who  live  in  the  Spirit,  and  which  makes  its 
sweetness  felt  among  believers  in  their  associations 
with  one  another.  Gal.  v.  22-25  ;  i  Thess.  i.  6.  The 
expression,  "  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  is  to  be  connected 
not  only  with  joy,  but  also  with  righteousness  and 
peace. 

V.  18.  In  these  things.  Righteousness,  peace, 
and  joy.  He  who  serves  Christ  in  the  exercise  of 
these  graces  is  well  pleasing  to  God,  and  this  is  proof 
that  true  religion,  or  the  kingdom  of  God  within  us, 
consists  in  their  possession  and  exercise  by  us,  rather 
than  in  the  observance  of  such  external  matters  as 
the  Apostle  is  here  discussing. 

V.  19.  I/et  us  therefore.  In  view  of  what  has 
been  said  in  the  preceding  verses  of  the  chapter,  and 
particularly  in  verses  17  and  18.  Let  us  follow 
after  the  things  which  make  for  peace  and  tend  to 
build  up  one  another  in  our  most  holy  faith,  i  Cor. 
iii.  9, 

Vs.  20,  21.  For  meat  destroy  not  the  work  of 
God,  The  work  of  God  here  meant  is,  most  proba- 
bly, true  religion  as  illustrated,  or  as  it  should  be 


Chapter  XIV.  379 


V.  20 : — For  meat  destroy  not  the  work  of  God.  All  things 
indeed  axQ  pure ;  but  itis  evil  for  that  man  who  eateth  with 
offence. 

V.  21 : — It  is  good  neither  to  eat  fiesh,  nor  to  drink  wine^ 
nor  any  thing  whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth,  or  is  offended^ 
or  is  made  weak. 

V.  22 : — Hast  thou  faith  ?  have  it  to  thyself  before  God. 
Happy  is  he  that  condemneth  not  himself  in  that  thing  which 
he  alloweth. 

illustrated,  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  believers.  Do 
not  for  the  sake  of  the  indulgence  of  an  appetite  in 
itself  innocent  pull  down  or  injure  the  cause  of  true 
religion  as  represented  either  in  the  Church  or  the 
individual  Christian. 

All  things.  Not  all  things  absolutely,  but  all 
such  things  as  the  Apostle  has  been  speaking  of  in 
this  chapter.  The  particular  thing  to  which  he  refers 
because  it  was  at  the  time  in  dispute  among  the 
Christians,  is  the  article  of  food.  All  kinds  of  meat 
or  food  are  pure.  There  is  really  no  distinction  mor- 
ally between  one  kind  and  another;  but  it  is  evil, 
or  sin,  for  any  one  to  exercise  his  liberty  in  regard  to 
these  matters  when  by  so  doing  he  causes  another  to 
violate  his  conscience  and  commit  what  to  him  is 
a  sin. 

V.  22.  Hast  thou  faith  ?  It  is  not  an  uncommon 
thing  for  some  members  of  the  Church  to  say,  "Well, 
I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  wrong  to  do  such  and  such 
things ;  my  faith  is  of  such  strength  as  to  allow  me 
to  do  them  with  a  good  conscience,"  and  they  too 
often  add,  **and  I  mean  to  do  them."  To  these  the 
Apostle  replies  in  substance :  Hast  thou  such  faith  ? 
Very  well ;  have  it  to  thyself  before  God,  and  do  not 


380         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  23  : — And  he  that  doubteth  is  damned  if  he  eat^  because 
he  eateth  not  0/  faith :  for  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin. 

parade  it  by  boasting  of  it,  or  insisting  upon  it.  He 
who  is  so  fully  convinced  that  he  entertains  no  doubt 
about  the  rectitude  of  his  conduct  in  doing  such  and 
such  things,  is  therein  a  happy  enough  man  to  thank- 
fully consent  to  restrain  his  freedom  for  his  brother's 
sake  who  has  not  such  liberty  and  strength  of  con- 
science. And  if  he  does  not  so  restrain  it,  he  can  not 
be  regarded  as  being  as. good  a  Christian  as  he  would 
seem  to  be. 

V.  23.  He  that  doubteth.  He  that  "eats"  with 
a  disapproving  conscience.  Is  damned.  Is  con- 
demned. "  He  who  has  overcome  by  debate  with 
himself  his  own  scruples  against  an  act  which  he 
thinks  doubtful,  is  by  that  very  fact  condemned, 
though  the  act  may  be  entirely  innocent  in  itself" 
Whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin.  Whatever 
act  does  not  proceed  from  a  right  motive  and  a  good 
conscience  is  a  sin.  But  the  proposition,  "  Whatso- 
ever is  not  of  faith  is  sin,"  does  not  imply  that  whatso- 
ever is  of  faith  is  right.  The  words  of  the  Apostle  in 
this  converse  form  are  to  be  applied  only  to  such  mat- 
ters as  he  is  speaking  of  in  this  chapter,  and  not  to 
all  cases.  But  in  respect  to  a  great  many  acts,  of 
course,  the  mere  fact  that  I  can  perform  them  with  a 
good  conscience  does  not  make  it  right  for  me  to  per- 
form them.  One's  morality,  however,  depends  to  a 
great  extent  upon  one's  beliefs,  and  hence,  sound  doc- 
trinal teaching  is  of  great  practical  importance. 

The  following  is  a  brief  recapitulation  of  the  prin- 
cipal teachings  of  this  chapter  of  inspired  casuistry, 


Chapter  XIV.  381 


given  partly  in  the  words  of  the  Rev.  Lyman  Ab- 
bott: 

1.  Paul  lays  down  the  general  principle  that  moral 
character  belongs  to  the  agent  doing,  not  to  the  thing 
done — a  principle,  however,  which  must  be  applied 
under  the  limitations  as  stated  in  our  last  note  above. 
There  are  some  acts  which  even  faith,  or  a  good  char- 
acter, can  not  make  right  or  sanctify,  as,  for  instance, 
to  steal,  lie,  and  other  things  unqualifiedly  and  specif- 
ically forbidden — if  we  may  regard  it  as  supposable 
that  a  good  character  could  perform  such  acts. 

2.  The  Church  should  not  attempt  to  lay  down  one 
absolute  standard  of  conduct  in  regard  to  certain 
debatable  questions  and  attempt  to  bring  all  to  con- 
form to  it.  In  regard  to  these  questions  the  more 
scrupulous  and  the  less  so  are  not  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  each  other. 

3.  Since  moral  character  resides  in  the  spirit  of  the 
agent,  not  in  the  act  itself,  the  actor  must  be  clear  in 
his  own  mind  before  he  acts.  If  he  is  not  clear  he 
must  decide  in  favor  of  his  doubt. 

4.  Therefore  the  man  of  liberal  faith  and  conscience 
must  not  endeavor  to  persuade  the  scrupulous  man  to 
disregard  his  scruples.  His  scruples  are  his  law  so 
long  as  they  remain  in  him.  They  are  his  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible. 

5.  For  the  same  reason  we  are  to  consider  the  efiect 
of  our  example  on  those  more  scrupulous  than  our- 
selves. If  by  exercising  our  greater  liberty  of  con- 
science we  are  likely  to  lead  them  into  sin,  it  is  neces- 
sary for  us  to  consider  whether  the  benefit  will  justify 
the  risk.  Paul  certainly  did  not  mean  by  his  famous 
declaration,  **  If  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend  I 
will  eat  no  flesh  while  the  world  standeth,"  that  the 


382  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

weaknesses  of  the  weak  are  to  be  an  absolute  law  to 
the  strong.  That  would  be  to  forbid  all  progress,  and 
even  all  reformation.  It  would  have  kept  the  Chris- 
tian Church  always  a  mere  Jewish  sect. 

6.  Even  the  feelings  of  the  weak  should  be  regarded 
with  love.  One  should  not  for  the  mere  sake  of  other- 
wise innocent  self-indulgence  grieve  a  brother  who  is 
pained  by  a  course  of  conduct  which  he  can  not  un- 
derstand or  approve.    See  i  Cor.  vi.  12,  13;  x.  23. 


Chapter  XV.  383 


VII. 
CONCLUSION  AND  GREETINGS. 

Chapters  xv.,  xvi. 

Chapter  xv.  is  divided  into  two  sections.  In  the 
£rst  the  Apostle  enforces  the  duty  of  mutual  love  and 
forbearance  on  the  part  of  Christians  by  an  appeal 
chiefly  to  the  example  of  Christ.  This  passage  is 
closely  connected  in  thought  with  chap,  xiv.,  its  sep- 
aration therefrom  by  a  new  chapter  division  is  unnec- 
essary. 

The  Kxampi^e  op  Christ. 

(Chap.  XV.) 

Chap.  XV.,  V.  i: — We  then  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear 
the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not  to  please  ourselves. 

V.  I.  We  then  that  are  strong.  ''  Now  we  that 
are  strong."  By  the  "  strong  "  the  Apostle  here,  as  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  refers  particularly  to  those 
whose  faith  was  such  as  to  allow  them  to  eat  with  a 
clear  conscience  all  kinds  of  food.  But  the  example 
of  Christ,  as  Paul  proceeds  to  show,  as  well  as  the 
considerations  already  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
requires  that  those  who  are  fully  persuaded  of  the 
moral  indifference  of  those  things  about  which  others 
are  so  scrupulous,  should  be  willing  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  the  latter,  and  not  act  with  a  view  sim- 


384         ^HE  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  2 : — Let  every  one  of  us  please  his  neighbour  for  his 
good  to  edification. 

V.  3 : — For  even  Christ  pleased  not  himself ;  but,  as  it  is 
written^  The  reproaches  of  them  that  reproached  thee  fell  on 


vte. 


pi}'  to  their  own  gratification.  He  who  pla3's  a  "  social 
game  of  cards/'  for  instance,  in  the  presence  of  one 
whose  conscience  it  wounds,  does  not  observe  this  law 
of  love.     Infirmities.     Conscientious  scruples. 

V.  2.  For  his  good  to  edi£cation.  With  a 
view  to  his  good  so  that  he  may  be  built  up  in  the 
Christian  life  rather  than  pulled  down  or  "  destroyed," 
as  the  word  is  rendered  in  xiv.  20.  See  2  Cor.  x.  8  ; 
Eph.  iv.  12,  29.  Paul  does  not  mean  here  that  we  are 
to  make  another  person's  conscience  our  rule  of 
action  ;  but  he  does  mean  that  we  are  to  have  regard 
for  another's  conscience,  exercising  at  all  times  an 
unselfish  and  enlightened  benevolence. 

V.  3.  For  even  Christ,  Notice  the  emphasis, 
Eve7i  Christ  pleased  not  himself,  evoi  Christ,  though 
infinitely  exalted  above  all  Christians;  his  personal 
pleasure  was  not  his  rule  of  action ;  how  much  less 
have  we  the  right  to  make  our  personal  pleasure  our 
rule  of  action  !  He  who  is  not  willing  to  den}'  him- 
self is  not  Christlike.  He  who  is  not  Christlike,  how 
can  he  call  himself  Christ's?  Let  this  mind  be  in 
you  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus.  Phil.  ii.  5.  In  what 
Christ  suffered  he  was  disinterested  ;  he  suffered  not 
for  himself.  Th^  passage  in  Ps.  Ixix.  9  is  quoted 
simply  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  the  fact  that  the 
suffering,  the  great  personal  inconvenience,  the  bitter 
reproaches,  which  Christ  endured,  were  not  endured 


Chapter  XV.  385 

V.  4  : For  whatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime  were 

written  for  our  learning,  that  we  through  patience  and  com- 
fort of  the  Scriptures  might  have  hope. 

V.  y.—Now  the  God  of  patience  and  consolation  grant  you 
to  be  like-minded  one  toward  another  according  to  Christ 
fesus  : 


for  his  own  sake,  but  for  others.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  us  to  suppose,  however,  that  Paul  means  to  imply 
that  the  original  Psalmist  in  writing  these  words  had 
Christ  consciously  in  view;  but  he  does  mean  that 
what  the  Psalmist  said  was  true  in  its  highest  sense 
of  Christ.  He  was  the  Ideal  Israelite,  and,  hence,  the 
Ideal  Man,  in  this  respect  as  in  all  others — the  Man 
like  unto  whom  all  men  ought  to  be. 

V.  4.  For  whatsoever  things  were  written 
aforetime  were  written  for  our  learning— that 

is,  our  teaching,  or  instruction.  For  this  purpose  was 
the  whole  Old  Testament  written,  and  no  one  should 
read  of  an  instance  of  noble,  unselfish  suffering,  like 
that  described  in  the  Psalm  quoted,  without  being 
encouraged  by  the  patience  and  comfort  which  such 
an  example  can  not  fail  to  afford.  To  witness  exam- 
ples of  patient  and  unselfish  suffering  is  also  calcu- 
lated to  induce  in  us  a  like  patient  and  unselfish  dis- 
position.    2  Tim.  iii.  16. 

V.  5.  The  God  of  patience.    The  God  who  is 

the  source  of  patience;  who  is  able  to  make  you 
patient  under  your  sufferings,  but  also  patient  with 
one  another's  weaknesses  and  faults.  And  of  con- 
solation; the  same  word  rendered  "comfort"  in 
verse  4,  and  the  same,  in  another  form  as  that  ren- 
dered '-comforter"  in  John  xiv.  16.  The  God  of 
25 


386         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  6 : — That  ye  may  with  07ie  mind  and  one  tnouth  glorify 
God,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  fesus  Christ. 

V.  7 : —  Wherefore  receive  ye  one  another,  as  Christ  also  re- 
ceived us,  to  the  glory  of  God. 

comfort  is  the  God  who  is  the  source  of  comfort. 
Ifike  minded  one  toward  another.  Each  to- 
ward all  the  others.  See  chapter  xii.  i6.  The  Apos- 
tle does  not  pray  that  all  Christians  may  have  the 
same  opinions,  but  that  they  may  hold  such  opinions  as 
they  may  have  in  perfect  harmony  of  feeling.  Ac- 
cording to  Christ  Jesus,  That  is,  Christ  being 
the  rule,  or  exemplar.  If  all  Christians  had  the  mind 
or  disposition  that  was  in  Christ,  they  would  then 
know  from  their  own  experience  and  observation  ex- 
actly what  Paul  meant  by,  "  Be  like-minded  one 
toward  another."  The  great  Apostle  was  a  great 
warrior,  a  true  soldier  of  the  Cross,  ever  ready  to  do 
battle  in  its  behalf;  but  he  was  as  tender  as  he  was 
great,  and  his  constant  longing  was  that  his  fellow 
Christians  might  be  at  peace  one  with  another. 

V.  6.    Wherefore  receive  ye  one   another. 

Take  one  another  into  fellowship  and  affection.  In 
verse  i  only  the  "strong"  were  addressed,  here  also 
the  "  weak."  As  the  strong  are  to  bear  with  the  "  in- 
firmities "  of  the  weak,  so  are  the  weak  to  bear  with 
the  "strength  "  of  the  strong.  It  is  never  probable 
that  either  party  is  wholly  faultless. 

V.  7.  Glorify  God,  even  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  More  recent  authorities  trans- 
late this  clause  thus:  "Glorify  the  God  and  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  This  is  better,  and  also 
agrees  with  Eph.  i.  17;  John  xx.  17.     God  is  called 


Chapter  XV.  387 


V.  8  '.—Now  I  say  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  minister  of  the 
circumcision  for  the  truth  of  God,  to  cofifirm  the  promises 
made  unto  the  fathers  : 

V.  9 : — And  that  the  Gentiles  might  glorify  God  for  his 
mercy  ;  as  it  is  written.  For  this  cause  I  will  confess  to  thee 
among  the  Gentiles,  and  sing  anto  thy  name. 


the  God  of  Jesus  Christ,  not  because  Christ  himself 
was  not  God,  for  essentially  he  was  God,  but  because 
as  mediator  he  was  dependent  upon  God.  Christ 
himself  said,  '*  My  God,  my  God,"  etc..  Matt,  xxvii. 
46,  and  also,  "  Father,  forgive  them,"  etc.  God  is 
called  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ  because  of  the  rela- 
tion of  perfect  and  peculiar  intimacy.  If  he  is  such 
a  God  and  such  a  Father  as  to  be  the  God  and  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  should  willingly  glorify 
him  by  laying  aside  all  contentions  and  by  being 
united  in  the  bonds  of  a  perfect  Christian  love. 

V.  8.  Now  I  saXf  etc.  This  together  with  the 
following  verses  illustrates  how  Christ  received  us  (or 
you,  as  the  Revised  Version  has  it)  to  the  glory  of 
God.  He  was  (or  has  become)  a  minister  of  the 
circumcision — that  is,  he  came  in  the  first  place  to 
the  Jews,  being  himself  a  Jew  according  to  the  flesh, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  known  to  them  the  truth 
of  God  and  of  confirming  the  promises  made  to  the 
patriarchs.  This  was  how  he  received  the  Jews.  In 
the  next  verse  we  are  told  how  he  received  the 
Gentiles. 

V.  9.  And  that  the  Gentiles^  etc.  The  ministry 
of  Jesus  Christ,  while  it  begun  with  the  Jews,  was  in- 
tended also  for  the  benefit  of  the  Gentiles.  They 
were  the  sheep  which  "  are  not  of  this  fold  "  of  which 


388  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  lo : — And  again  he  saith,  Rejoice^  ye  Gentiles^  with  his 
people. 

V,  II : — And  again^  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  Gentiles  ;  and 
laud  him,  all  ye  people. 

Y  j2  : — And  again,  Esaias  saith,  There  shall  be  a  root  of 
Jesse,  and  he  that  shall  rise  to  reign  over  the  Gentiles ;  in 
him  shall  the  Gentiles  trust. 

V.  13 : — Now  the  God  of  hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and 
peace  in  believing,  that  ye  may  abound  in  hope^  through  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Christ  spoke.  And  through  the  Jews  would  he  con- 
vey his  mercy  to  these  sheep  of  the  other  fold  that 
they  too  might  glorify  God — all  of  which  was  accord- 
ing to  the  words  of  the  ancient  prophets. 

Vs.  10-12.  And  again  he  saitb.  That  is,  Christ 
or  the  Holy  Spirit  speaking  through  the  prophet. 
These  several  citations  are  from  Psalm  xviii.  49; 
Deut.  xxxii.  43 ;  Psalm  cxvii.  i ;  Isaiah  xi.  10.  The 
Apostle  quotes  these  passages  as  an  illustration  of 
how  Christ  received  the  Gentiles  into  his  kingdom, 
but  incidentally  they  would  also  have  a  tendency  to 
justify  his  own  ministry  among  the  Gentiles  in  the 
estimation  of  the  prejudiced  Jews  and  thus  carry 
their  minds  back  to  his  missionary  argument  in  chap- 
ter X.  and  to  the  Old  Testament  passages  there 
quoted. 

V.  13.  Now  the  God  of  bope^  etc.  At  the  close 
of  the  last  verse  it  was  said  that  on  Him  should  the 
Gentiles  base  their  hope.  Here  God  is  called  the 
God  of  hope,  because  he  is  the  source  of  hope,  as  in 
verse  5  he  is  the  God  of  patience  and  comfort.  He 
gives  us  this  hope  by  filling  us  with  the  joy  and  peace 
which  come  of  believing,  not  only  at  the  time  of  our 


Chapter  XV.  389 


V.  14:— And  I  myself  also  am  persuaded  of  you,  my  breth- 
ren,  that  ye  also  are  full  of  goodness,  filed  with  all  knowl- 
edge, able  also  to  admonish  one  another. 


conversion,  but  day  by  day  ever  onward  through  our 
lives.  Doubting  never  produces  either  joy  or  peace, 
and  hence  it  can  not  produce  hope. 

Through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  It 
is  the  Holy  Spirit  who  enables  us  to  believe  at  the 
time  of  our  conversion  and  as  the  ever  renewed  act, 
or  the  abiding  state  of  our  hearts,  and  hence  it  is 
through  him  also  that  we  are  filled  with  joy,  and 
peace,  thus  causing  us  to  abound  in  hope.  Chapter 
v.  I,  2. 

With  this  verse  the  didactic  part  of  the  epistle 
ends,  the  Apostle  having  no  more  to  say  by  way  of  for- 
mal instruction.  The  remainder  of  this  chapter  and 
the  whole  of  the  next,  and  last,  are  devoted  to  con- 
cluding remarks,  mostly  of  a  personal  character,  and 
to  various  salutations  and  messages  to  friends  whonn 
he  seems  to  have  known  elsewhere,  but  who  were 
now  living  in  Rome. 

Conclusion. 

V.  14.  And  I  myself  am  persuaded  of  yon, 

I  myself,  even  I,  who  have  so  exhorted  and  reproved 
you,  though  you  might  infer  from  this  that  I  am  not 
persuaded,  etc.  That  ye  also.  That  ye  yourselves, 
ye  whom  I  have  been  so  exhorting.  F'ull  of  good- 
ness. Kind  and  conciliatory  disposition.  "  Paul 
with  his  wonted  modesty  and  tenderness,  apologies, 
as  It  were,  for  the  plainness  and  ardor  of  his  exhorta- 
tions. They  were  given  from  no  want  of  confidence 
in  the  Roman  Christians.    What  Paul  says  in  this 


390         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  15: — Nevertheless^  brethren^  I  have  written  the  more 
boldly  unto  you  in  some  sort,  as  putting  you  in  mind,  because 
of  the  grace  that  is  given  to  me  of  God, 

verse  might  be  strictly  true  of  the  Christians  as  a 
whole  at  Rome,  and  yet  not  be  true  of  many  individ- 
uals among  them. 

V.  15.  The  more  boldly,  in  some  sort,  as 
putting  you  in  mind.  The  phrase  'in  some 
sort"  (apo  merous)  literally  means  "in  part"  or  "in 
some  measure."  Commentators  are  not  agreed  as  to 
whether  it  should  be  construed  with  the  preceding  or 
with  the  following  clause.  In  the  one  case  the  mean- 
ing is :  "1  have  written  the  more  boldly  unto  you  in 
some  measure,"  etc.,  referring  either  to  some  partic- 
ular parts  of  the  epistle  or  to  the  degree  of  boldness 
which  characterizes  the  epistle  as  a  whole.  In  the 
other  case  the  meaning  is:  I  have  written  the  more 
boldly  unto  you,  so  as  in  some  measure  to  put  you  in 
remembrance,"  etc.,  referring  to  the  fact  that  so  much 
of  boldness  as  he  had  employed  was  for  the  purpose 
of  reminding  rather  than  of  instructing  them.  This 
latter  is  the  more  probable  meaning. 

Because  of  the  grace  that  is  given  to  me  of 
God.  The  sentence  continues  into  the  next  verse. 
Paul  was  an  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  appointed  by 
Christ  himself,  and  hence  in  all  that  he  had  written 
them  he  had  acted  authoritatively.  He  makes  this 
statement  that  he  may  remind  them  that  in  nothing 
that  he  had  said  was  there  any  unwarrantable  assump- 
tion of  authority  on  his  part.  The  word  rendered 
minister  in  this  verse  is  not  the  same  as  the  one  occur- 
ring in  xii.  7;  there  the  word  so  rendered  denotes 


Chapter  XV.  391 


V.  16 : — That  I  should  be  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
Gentiles,  ministering  the  gospel  of  God,  that  the  offering  up 
of  the  Gentiles  might  be  acceptable,  being  sanctified  by  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

V.  17 : — /  have  therefore  whereof  I  may  glory  through 
Jesus  Christ  in  those  things  which  pertain  to  God. 

rather  a  humbler  class  of  Church  servant,  as  also  in 
xvi.  I,  whose  duty  it  was  to  go  about  and  minister 
chiefly  in  temporal  matters  to  the  needy  and  suffer- 
ing ;  the  word  here  used  denotes  a  public  officer  or 
servant,  being  sometimes  applied  to  the  civil  magis- 
trate, as  in  xiii.  6,  and  sometimes  to  the  priest,  as  in 
Heb.  X.  II.  But  Paul  does  not  mean  that  he  was 
either  a  civil  magistrate  or  a  priest,  and  his  readers 
knew  very  well  that  he  was  neither ;  he  means  simply 
that  he  was  a  sacred  officer  of  Jesus  Christ,  having 
authority  to  write  as  he  had  written — a  priest  only  in 
a  figurative  sense,  his  offering  to  God  being  as  many 
Gentiles  and  Jews  as  he  could  be  instrumental  in  con- 
verting. 

V.  16.  That  the  offering  of  the  Gentiles 
might  be  acceptable.  Not  the  offering  which  the 
Gentiles  offered,  but  the  offering  which  the  Gentiles 
were.  Paul  offered  them,  they  having  become,  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  set  apart  through  his  minis- 
try from  the  rest  of  the  Gentile  world. 

V.  17.  I  have  therefore.  In  view  of  my  Christ- 
appointed  ministry  to  the  Gentiles  (v.  16)  I  have  a 
right  to  glory,  through  Jesus  Christ,  in  respect  to  my 
success  in  things  pertaining  to  God — that  is,  in  bring- 
ing the  Gentiles  as  an  acceptable  offering  to  God. 


392         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  1 8 : — For  I  will  not  dare  to  speak  of  any  of  those  things 
which  Christ  hath  not  wrought  by  me^  to  make  the  Gentiles 
obedient^  by  word  and  deed, 

V.  19: — Through  mighty  signs  and  wonders^  by  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  of  God;  so  that  from  ferusalem^  and  round 
about  unto  Illyricum,  I  have  fully  preached  the  gospel  of 
Christ. 

V.  18.  V^or  I  will  not  dare  to  speak,  etc.  In 
reading  this  verse  we  may  place  the  emphasis  either 
on  **  Christ"  or  on  "by  me."  In  the  one  case  Paul 
means  that  he  would  dare  to  glory  only  in  so  far  as  Christ 
had  wrought  through  him ;  in  other  words,  only  in 
being  Christ's  instrument  in  winning  the  Gentiles. 
In  the  other  case  he  means  that  he  would  dare  to 
glory  only  on  account  of  those  things  which  Christ 
had  wrought  through  him  personally,  claiming  no 
credit  for  what  his  disciples,  Timothy,  Titus,  and 
others,  had  done  ;  he  would  claim  nothing  as  the  fruit 
of  his  ministry  and  the  proof  of  his  Christ-appointed 
apostleship  to  the  Gentiles,  that  could  be  at  all 
claimed  as  belonging  to  another  man.  This  is  the 
more  obvious  sense. 

V.  19.  Through  mighty  signs  and  wonders. 

The  Apostle  here  mentions  in  general  terms  the 
proofs  of  his  ministry  among  the  Gentiles  as  wrought 
by  Christ  through  him.  Paul  attributes  the  success 
of  his  ministry  to  Christ,  working  through  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

Prom  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  unto 
Illyricum,  In  Damascus  and  Arabia,  in  Syria,  Asia 
Minor,  Greece,  the  Grecian  Islands,  Thessaly,  Mace- 
donia, and  Illyricum.  Illyricum  corresponds  to  the 
modern   Croatia  and  Dalmatia.      Paul    had  already 


Chapter  XV.  393 


V.  20: — Yea,  so  have  I  strived  to  preach  the  gospel,  not 
where  Christ  was  named,  lest  I  should  build  upon  another 
man's  foundation  : 

V.  21  -.—But  as  it  is  written,  To  whom  he  was  not  spoken  of, 
they  shall  see:  and  they  that  have  not  heard  shall  under- 
stand. 

preached  the  gospel  in  the  chief  cities  of  all  these 
countries,  laying  foundations  upon  which  others 
might  build,  i  Cor.  iii.  10.  He  continued  to  preach 
some  ten  years  or  more  after  this  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  was  written  ;  three  years  thereafter  he  was  a 
**  prisoner  of  Christ  at  Rome." 

V.  20.  This  verse  is  a  close  continuation  of  the  pre- 
ceding, which  should  not  end  with  a  period,  but  rather 
with  a  semicolon,  the  better  reading  making  the  word 
rendered  "I  have  strived"  a  participle,  thus:  "Yea, 
striving  [or  making  it  my  aim]  to  preach  the  gospel 
not  where  men  had  already  been  taught  to  believe  in 
Christ,  and  call  upon  his  name  in  public  confession 
and  adoration."  Paul  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that 
it  is  wrong  to  build  on  another  man's  foundation,  or 
tha't  every  minister  ought  to  desire  to  follow  his 
example  in  this  respect.  Paul's  ambition  was  in  har- 
mony with  his  mission,  and  his  mission  was  to  fulfill 
the  words  of  the  prophet  quoted  in  the  next  verse — 
that  is,  to  preach  Christ  to  those  to  whom  he  had  not 
hitherto  been  preached,  leaving  to  the  pastors  for  the 
most  part  the  work  of  training,  under  his  direction, 
the  Churches  which  he  established. 

V.  21.  Bnty  as  it  is  written,  Isa.  Iii.  15.  To 
whom  he  was  not  spoken  of.  To  whom  Christ 
was  not  spoken  of.    The  words  of  the  prophet  in  Isa. 


394         'I'he  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  22 : — For  zvhich  cause  also  I  have  been  much  hindered 
from  coming  to  you. 

V.  23  : — But  now  havifig  710  more  place  in  these  parts,  and 
having  a  great  desire  these  maiiy  years  to  come  unto  you  ; 

lii.,  liii.,  find  their  highest  fulfillment  in  the  Messiah. 
The  gospel  of  Christ  is  a  missionary  gospel,  or  it  is 
nothing,  something  which  in  its  very  nature  is  meant 
to  be  proclaimed  to  all  who  know  it  not ;  it  is  good 
news.  But  Paul  does  not  mean  that  he  believed  that 
the  prophet  had  his  (Paul's)  ministry  consciously  in 
mind,  as  at  least  one  learned  commentator  (Fritzsch) 
strangely  affirms ;  he  means  that  the  prophet's  words 
were  fulfilled  in  his  ministry.  The  fact  predicted  was 
that  the  gospel  should  be  preached  to  the  Gentiles, 
and  not  that  Paul  should  preach  it ;  though  in  Paul's 
preaching  the  words  of  the  prophet  were  fulfilled. 

V.  22.  For  which  cause.  That  is,  In  preaching 
the  gospel  to  those  who  had  not  heard  it  at  so  many 
and  widely  distant  places,  I  have  been  much  hindered 
from  coming  to  Rome.  The  gospel  had  already  been 
preached  to  those  at  Rome,  though  it  is  probable  that 
at  this  time  no  apostle  had  ever  visited  Rome. 

V.  23.  But  now  having  no  more  room  in 
these  parts.  When  Paul  wrote  this  epistle  he  was 
in  Corinth  in  Greece;  but  by  "these  parts"  he  refers 
to  the  other  countries  in  which  the  gospel  had  already 
been  so  far  established  as  to  no  longer  need  his  espe- 
cial  service  ^s  an  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles ;  he  hopes, 
therefore,  to  soon  extend  his  labors  still  farther  west- 
ward into  countries  which  no  apostle  had  as  yet  vis- 
ited. 


Chapter  XV.  395 


V.  24 : —  Whensoever  I  take  my  journey  into  Spain^  I  will 
come  to  you :  for  I  trust  to  see  you  in  my  journey^  and  to  be 
brought  on  my  way  thitherward  by  yoUy  if  first  I  be  some- 
what filled  with  your  company. 

V.  2^:— But  now  I  go  unto  Jerusalem  to  minister  unto  the 
saints. 

V.  24.  Whensoever  I  take  my  journey  into 
Spain  I  will  come  to  you.  Rome  was  about  six 
hundred  miles  west  of  Corinth,  and  Spain  was  about 
the  same  distance  west  of  Rome,  to  which — that  is,  to 
Spain — it  seems  he  had  for  some  time  been  contem- 
plating a  missionary  journey.  It  is  not  likely,  how- 
ever, that  Paul's  missionary  plans  and  ambition  had 
any  limits,  except  the  limit  of  his  life,  and  that  having 
established  Churches  in  Spain,  he  would  have  turned 
his  face  toward  Gaul  and  Britain.  But  it  is  thought 
by  many  scholars  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  at 
Rome,  and  that  he  never  reached  Spain. 

And  to  be  brought  on  my  way  thitherward 
by  you.  To  Spain.  Paul  received  no  pecuniary 
help  from  the  mother  Churches  in  Jerusalem  or  other 
parts  of  the  East,  but  on  the  contrary,  carried  help  to 
them.  He  was  dependent  upon  the  Gentile  Churches 
which  he  himself  established  for  the  means  w4th 
which  to  defray  his  traveling  expenses,  in  so  far  as  he 
did  not  earn  it  by  making  tents.  He  hoped  to  be 
thus  generously  received  and  helped  onward  by  the 
Christians  at  Rome,  after  having  for  a  short  season 
enjoyed  their  company. 

V.  25.  But  now  I  go  to  Jerusalem  to  minis- 
ter unto  the  saints.  Shortly  after  writing  this 
Paul  started  on  the  long  journey  eastw^ard  to  take  the 
money  which  he  had  raised  among  the  Gentiles  for 


396  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  26 : — For  it  hath  pleased  them  of  Macedonia  and  Achaia 
to  make  a  certain  contribution  for  the  poor  saints  which  are 
at  Jerusalem. 

■ — ■ 

the  needy  Christians  in  Jerusalem  and  Judea.  Reach- 
ing Jerusalem  he  was  arrested  by  the  Jewish  author- 
ities, imprisoned  two  years  at  Cesarea,  from  which 
place  he  was  sent  a  prisoner  in  bonds  to  Rome.  .  See 

1  Cor.  xvi.  4,  6,  15  ;  2  Cor.  i.  16;  ix.  i.  See  also  Acts 
xviii.  i8-xxviii.  for  an  account  of  the  incidents  of 
these  journeys. 

V.  26.  It  hath  pleased  them  .  ...  to  make  a 
contribution.  The  idea  expressed  by  the  word  is, 
not  only  that  they  made  the  contribution,  but  that  to 
make  it  pleased  them.  Paul  commends  this  liberality 
of  the  Macedonians  in  his  letter  to  the  Corinthians. 

2  Cor.  viii.  9.  Achaia  was  the  country  of  which  Cor- 
inth was  the  capital.  These  Churches  of  which  the 
Apostle  speaks  had  acted  according  to  the  admonition 
in  xii.  13. 

The  word  rendered  "  contribution  "  means  fellow- 
ship, communion,  or  joint  participation,  and  rightly 
suggests  that  he  does  not  contribute  in  the  best  sense 
who  does  not  by  the  act  of  contributing  enter  into  fel- 
lowship or  communion  with  the  one  to  whom  he  con- 
tributes. The  true  giver  shares  in  spirit  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  recipient,  while  the  recipient  shares  the 
abundance  of  the  giver ;  thus  it  becomes  a  joint  par- 
ticipation or  contribution — a  giving  together. 

V.  27.  And  their  debtors  they  are.  The  Gen- 
tile givers  are  the  debtors  of  the  Jewish  Christian 
receivers  at  Jerusalem.     The  reason  why  they  are 


Chapter  XV.  397 


V.  27  \—It  hath  pleased  them  verily  ;  and  their  debtors  they 
are.  For  if  the  Gentiles  have  been  made  partakers  of  their 
spiritual  things,  their  duty  is  also  to  minister  unto  them  in 
carnal  things. 

V.  28 :—  When  therefore  I  have  performed  this,  and  have 
sealed  to  them  this  fruit,  I  will  come  by  you  into  Spain. 

V.  2^:— And  I  am  sure  that,  when  I  come  unto  you,  I  shall 
come  in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

debtors  is  stated  in  the  next  clause.  It  is  true  that 
the  gospel  with  all  its  spiritual  blessings  had,  in  a 
sense,  come  to  the  Gentiles  from  the  mother  Church 
in  Jerusalem,  but,  after  all,  the  Gentiles  owed  much 
more  to  Paul  than  they  did  to  the  mother  Church,  and 
when  he  arrived  at  Jerusalem  as  the  bearer  of  these 
gifts  the  Jewish  Christians  there,  with  the  exception 
of  some  of  the  chief  brethren,  did  not  receive  him 
with  much  cordiality.  They  were  suspicious  of  his 
teachings  to  the  Gentiles.  Actsxxi.  15-40.  But  Paul 
generously  ignores  himself,  saying  nothing  of  the  in- 
debtedness of  the  Gentiles  to  him.  He  regarded  him- 
self rather  as  their  debtor.     Chapter  i.  14. 

V.  28.  I  have  performed  this.  This  journey  to 
Jerusalem.  And  have  sealed  to  them  this 
fruit.  Have  safely  delivered  to  the  saints  at  Jerusa- 
lem the  contributions  referred  to  in  verse  26.  Will 
come  by  you,  Rome  was  a  little  north  of  the 
direct  route  from  either  Jerusalem  or  Corinth  to 
Spain. 

V.  29.  And  I  am  sure,  etc.  Paul  was  permitted 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  write  this  verse,  but  he  did  not 
when  writing  it  have  inspired  knowledge  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  he  would  actually  go  to 


398         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  30 : — Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  for  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ's  sake,  and  for  the  love  of  the  Spirit^  that  ye  strive  to- 
gether with  me  in  your  prayers  to  God  for  me  ; 

V.  31: — That  I  may  be  delivered  from,  them,  that  do  not 
believe  in  Judea  ;  and  that  my  service  which  I  have  for  Jeru- 
salem, may  be  accepted  of  the  saints  ; 

V.  32 : — That  I  may  come  unto  you  with  Joy  by  the  will  of 
God,  and  may  with  you  be  refreshed. 

Rome  when  he  did  go  to  thither  some  three  years 
later,  he  went  in  bonds  ;  and  yet,  though  a  prisoner, 
he  preached  there  an  abundant  gospel.  Acts  xxviii. 
30,  31.  It  is  better  for  us  to  do  good,  to  be  a  blessing 
to  others,  in  God's  way  than  in  our  own  way,  unless 
our  way  be  his  way,  as  indeed  it  should. 

V.  30.  ¥or  our  I^ord  Jesus  ChrisVs  sake.    I 

beseech  you,  brethren,  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — in 
view  of  all  that  he  hath  done  for  you — and  in  view  of 
the  love  which  the  Holy  Spirit  hath  showed  to  you, 
in  giving  you  his  manifold  gifts,  that  ye  agonize,  pray 
most  earnestly,  with  me  in  your  prayers  to  God,  for  me. 

Vs.  31,  32.  These  two  verses  state  the  subject  of 
the  prayer  which  Paul  had  so  earnestly  requested  the 
Roman  Christians  to  make  in  his  behalf.  H-e  was 
carrying  pecuniary  assistance  to  the  saints  at  Jerusa- 
lem ;  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  anticipated  a 
warm  welcome,  and  on  the  part  of  the  unbelieving 
Jews  he  expected  to  be  met  with  positive  hostility. 
If  we  should  follow  him  on  this  journey  to  Jerusalem 
as  described  in  the  Acts  xviii.  18  to  xxi.  15,  we 
should  find  that  he  ever  looked  thither  with  forebod- 
ings of  evil.  Acts  XX.  22,  23;  xxi.  10,  11.  The  event 
shows  how  well  founded  were  his  forebodings. 


Chapter  XVI.  399 


V.  33 : — Now  the  God  of  peace  be  with  you  all.    Amen. 

V.  33.  Now  the  God  of  peace  be  with  you  all. 

The  God  of  peace  because  he  is  the  source  of  peace, 
as  in  verse  5  he  is  the  God  of  patience  and  comfort, 
and  in  verse  13  the  God  of  hope.  In  memory  of  con- 
stant struggles  and  afflictions,  and  in  view  of  others 
soon  to  befall  him,  how  natural  it  is  for  the  Apostle 
to  think  of  peace,  the  peace  which  comes  from  God. 
"  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation."  "  In  me  ye 
shall  have  peace.''  Paul  was  a  great  warrior,  a  true 
soldier  of  the  Cross,  never  shrinking  from  any  hard- 
ship or  danger ;  but  it  is  the  true  soldier  who  knows 
best  how  to  appreciate  peace.  Paul  was  indeed  one 
of  the  Tenth  I^egion,  scarred  and  battered,  out  on  the 
far-off  frontier ;  but  he  was  fighting  a  good  fight,  and 
was  destined  erelong  to  be  victorious.  There  is 
something  tender  and  touching  in  these  closing  words 
to  the  Romans.  Peace.  **  May  the  God  of  peace  be 
with  you  all."  And  after  all  it  is  not  a  prayer  for 
himself. 

Commendations,  Greetings,  Warnings. 

(Chap.  XVI.) 

The  Apostle  concludes  his  epistle  with  various  com- 
mendations, affectionate  greetings,  and  solemn  warn- 
ings. The  warnings  are  directed  chiefly  to  those  who 
give  offence  and  make  divisions  among  the  brethren. 
The  personal  salutations  seems  to  be  numerous,  con- 
sidering the  fact  that  Paul  had  never  visited  Rome, 
and  hence  could  not  be  expected  to  have  there  so 
many  intimate  friends.  Some  writers,  Farrar  among 
the  numher,  place  quite  too  much  stress  on  this  as  a 


400  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Chap.  XVI.,  V.  I : — /  commend  unto  you  Phebe  our  sisteVy 
which  is  a  servant  of  the  church  which  is  at  Cenchrea : 

reason  for  believing  that  this  last  chapter  was  not 
originally  addressed  to  the  Romans,  but  to  some  other 
Church.  But,  on  the  contrary,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Rome  in  those  days  was  the  center  of  the  world's 
travel,  it  is  very  easy  to  suppose  that  the  persons  here 
named  had  only  recently  gone  to  Rome  and  that  Paul 
had  often  met  them  elsewhere.  And  even  if  he  had 
never  met  them  or  known  them  face  to  face,  the 
affectionate  salutations  would  still  be  justifiable  on 
the  ground  of  the  fact  that  they  were  closely  united 
to  Paul  in  the  bonds  of  a  like  active  devotion  to  the 
same  cause  of  Christ. 

V.  I.  Phebe^  or  Phoebe.  The  word  is  the  feminine 
form  of  Phoebus,  and  means  bright,  or  radiant.  Phebe 
was  doubtless  a  recent  convert  from  heathenism,  her 
name  having  been  bestowed  upon  her  perhaps  in  honor 
of  the  heathen  sun-god.  But  becoming  a  Christian 
she  also  becomes  ''radiant"  in  a  diviner  sense,  the 
bearer  of  this  true  light,  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 
Her  name  is  not  mentioned  elsewhere;  and  what  is 
here  said  of  her  is  important  because  of  its  bearing 
on  the  office  of  deaconess  in  the  apostolic  Church. 
The  word  here  rendered  servant  is  the  one  from 
which  we  get  our  word  deacon.  It  can  not  be  in- 
ferred, from  this  word,  however,  that  Phebe  either 
was  or  was  not  a  preacher. 

Cenchrea  was  the  eastern  sea-port  of  Corinth  and 
about  eight  miles  distant  therefrom.  Paul  was  at 
Corinth  when  he  wrote  this  epistle.  He  commends 
Phebe  to  the  Romans. on  the  twofold  ground  that  she 


Chapter  XVI.  401 


V.  2  : — That  ye  receive  her  in  the  Lord,  as  becometh  saints^ 
and  that  ye  assist  her  in  whatsoever  business  she  hath  need  of 
you :  for  she  hath  been  a  succor er  of  many,  and  of  myself 
also. 

V.  3 : — Greet  Priscilla  and  Aguila,  my  helpers  in  Christ 
Jesus  : 

was  his  sister  in  Christ  and  a  servant  or  deaconess  of 
the  Church  at  Cenchrea.  It  is  generally  admitted  by 
New  Testament  scholars  that  the  female  diaconate 
was  one  of  the  recognized  offices  of  the  apostolic 
Church. 

V.  2.  In  the  IfOrd,  In  a  religious  manner  and 
from  religious  motives,  as  one  saint,  or  Christian, 
should  receive  another.  A  succorer  of  many,  A 
benefactor.  Renan  speaks  of  this  "  poor  woman " 
as  making  a  "  wild  winter  journey  "  to  Rome,  or  as  he 
thinks,  to  Ephesus;  but  there  is  no  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  the  journey  was  made  in  the  "  wild  win- 
ter," or  that  she  was  very  poor,  or  that  the  assistance 
which  Paul  bespeaks  for  her  was  of  the  nature  of 
alms. 

V.  3.  Greet  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  Some  time 
before  writing  this  epistle  Paul  had  met  Priscilla  or 
Prisca,  and  Aquila  at  Corinth  (Acts  xviii.  2),  and 
somewhat  more  recently  at  Ephesus,  from  which  place 
Paul  wrote  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  (i  Cor. 
xvi.  8).  But  since  those  meetings  they  had  returned 
to  Rome,  from  which  place  they,  with  the  other  Jews, 
had  been  expelled  by  the  Emperor  Claudius  (A.D.  52) ; 
and  now  Paul,  at  Corinth  again,  in  writing  to  the 
Romans,  sends  to  them  his  greetings.  Aquila  was 
by  trade  -a  tent-maker ;  though  his  chief  occupation 
26 


402  Thk  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  4 : —  Who  have  for  my  life  laid  down  their  own  necks : 
unto  whom  not  only  I  give  thanks^  but  also  all  the  churches 
of  the  Gentiles. 

V.  5 : — Likewise  greet  the  church  that  is  in  their  house. 
Salute  my  well  beloved  Epenetus^  who  is  the  firstfruits  of 
Achaia  unto  Christ. 

was  that  of  a  missionary,  and  so  Paul  calls  him  and 
Priscilla  his  helpers,  or  fellow  workers  in  Christ. 

V.  4.  l,aid  down  their  own  necks.  A  figura- 
tive expression,  perhaps,  denoting  that  they  had 
risked  their  lives  for  him.  When,  we  are  not  in- 
formed. But  Paul  had  had  many  a  narrow  escape 
from  death,  and  in  some  one  or  more  of  these  Aquila 
and  Priscilla  had  with  great  personal  risk  befriended 
him.  They  were  with  him,  it  seems,  when  he  was 
assaulted  at  Corinth  (Acts  xviii.  6-18),  and  also  in  the 
tumult  at  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.).  In  thus  being  the 
means  of  saving  Paul's  life  they  had  made  all  the 
Churches  of  the  Gentiles  their  debtors,  and  all  the 
Churches  of  subsequent  ages. 

V.  5.  Greet  the  Church  that  is  in  their 
house.  Not  merely  their  Christian  household,  but 
the  believers  who  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  in 
their  house  for  the  purpose  of  worshiping,  i  Cor. 
xvi.  19.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  Christians  at 
Rome  were  at  this  time  organized  into  one  Church, 
or  that  they  all  worshiped  in  the  same  house,  but 
that  they  met  in  several  small  assemblies.   Col.  iv.  15. 

Mpsenetus.  Unknown  except  as  here  mentioned. 
The  £rst  fruits.  The  first  convert  or  offering, 
chapter  xv.  16.  Of  Achai,  The  Revised  Version 
here  reads  *'  of  Asia,"  by  Asia  being  here  meant  the 


Chapter  XVI.  403 


V.  6 : — Greet  Mary,  who  bestowed  much  labor  on  us. 

V.  7  : — Salute  Andronicus  and  Junia,  my  kinsmeny  and  my 
fellow  prisoners,  who  are  of  note  among  the  apostles,  who 
also  were  in  Christ  before  me. 

province  on  the  western  coast  of  which  Ephesus  was 
the  capital.  "Asia  "  must  be  regarded  as  the  correct 
reading  here,  the  other  being  the  "  typographical 
error"  of  some  copyist.  Paul  says,  in  i  Cor.  xvi.  15, 
that  the  "  house  of  Stephanus  "  was  the  first  fruits  of 
Achaia.  Achaia  was  the  country  of  which  Corinth 
was  the  capital. 

V.  6.  Greet  Mary,  The  words  translated  **  sa- 
lute" and  "greet  "  are  the  same  word  in  the  Greek 
throughout  the  chapter.  On  us.  The  Revised  Ver- 
sion, following  the  majority  of  ancient  manuscripts, 
reads  on  you.  The  great  Apostle  makes  pleasing 
mention  of  the  fact  which  had  come  to  his  knowledge 
that  this  obscure  Christian  woman,  of  whom  nothing 
is  known  but  what  is  here  stated,  had  in  some  way 
made  herself  particularly  useful  to  the  Christians  at 
Rome.  Nothwithstanding  his  disadvantages,  Paul 
seems  to  have  kept  himself  well  posted  in  regard  to 
what  was  going  on  in  the  different  parts  of  the  great 
Gentile  Christian  world. 

Vs.  7-15.  Nothing  whatever  is  known  of  the  per- 
sons mentioned  in  these  verses ;  their  names  do  not 
occur  elsewhere. 

V.  7.  My  kinsmen.  Here  and  in  verses  11  and 
21  the  word  "  kinsmen  "  most  probably  means  kins- 
men in  the  sense  of  fellow-countrymen.  It  literally 
denotes  "  bom-together,"  whether  of  the  same  family 


404  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  8 : — Greet  Amp  lias,  my  beloved  in  the  Lord. 
N.^:— Salute  Urbane,  our  helper  in  Christ,  and  Stachys 
my  beloved. 

or  the  same  country.     The  names  in  this  and  verse 
21   are  not  Jewish.     My  fellow  prisoners.    We 

are  nowhere  informed  when  or  where  these  persons 
were  imprisoned  with  Paul.  He  alludes,  in  2  Cor. 
vi.  5,  to  man}^  sufferings  and  imprisonments  of 
which  nothing  is  anywhere  said  in  detail  so  far  as 
we  know.  The  name  Junia  is  most  probably  more 
correctly  spelled  Juntas,  and  it  is  also  most  prob- 
able that  the  person  named  was  a  man,  being  of  note 
among  the  apostles ;  by  which  it  is  meant  that  they, 
the  persons  so  described,  were  eminent  as  evan- 
gelists. The  word  apostles  is  here  used  in  the  same 
sense  as  in  Acts  xiv.  4,  14,  where  Barnabas  is  called 
an  apostle,  although  he  was  not  one  in  the  more 
special  sense  in  which  Paul  was.  Some  commen- 
tators, however,  think  that  the  expression  means 
merely  that  the  two  persons  were  well-known  to  the 
apostles,  though  it  does  not  seem  that  Paul  would 
mention  this  as  one  of  the  reasons  why  he  sent  them 
his  personal  greeting.  In  Christ  before  me. 
Were  converted  before  Paul  himself  was.  They  had 
been  Christians  therefore  more  than  twenty  years, 
it  having  been  about  this  length  of  time  since  Paul's 
conversion. 

V.  8.  Salute  Amplias,  Or  Ampliatus.  My  be- 
loved in  the  J^ord,  In  relation  to  the  I^ord.  This 
relation  in  the  Lord  in  which  he  stood  to  Paul  was  a 
sufficient  claim  to  the  respect  of  the  Roman  Chris- 
tians. 


Chapter  XVI.  405 


V.  10: — Salute  Apelles  approved  in  Christ.  Salute  them 
which  are  of  Aristobulus'  household. 

V.  1 1 : — Salute  Herodion  my  kinsm,an.  Greet  them,  that  be 
of  the  household  of  Narcissus,  which  are  in  the  Lord. 

V.  9.  Urbane.  Or,  Urbanus.  The  name  signifies 
a  citizen.  Stachys,  Signifying  an  ear  of  corn. 
Paul  calls  Urbanus  our  helper,  and  Stachys  my  be- 
loved. The  latter  expression  refers  to  personal 
friendship,  the  former  to  the  fact  that  he  who  helped 
Paul  in  his  work  helped  all  who  were  engaged  in  the 
same  work. 

V.  10.  Apelles    approved    in    Christ,      The 

word  "approved"  comes  from  the  same  root  as  that 
rendered  "  experience  "  in  chapter  v.  4.  It  is  the  ap- 
probation which  comes  after  experience  or  severe 
trial.  Appelles  was  a  tried  and  approved  Christian — 
as  gold  which  had  passed  through  the  crucible. 
Them  which  are  of  Aristobulus.  Aristobulus 
himself  is  not  saluted;  perhaps  he  was  dead,  or 
known  to  be  absent  from  Rome ;  or  Paul  may  have 
known  that  he  was  not  a  Christian  and  cared  nothing 
for  his  salutations.  Commentators,  generally,  sup- 
pose that  those  of  the  household  of  Aristobulus  here 
referred  to  were  his  slaves,  but  there  is  nothing  to 
support  the  supposition  except  the  general  form  of 
the  expression.  So  also  of  "  the  household  of  Nar- 
cissus "  in  the  next  verse. 

V.  II.  Narcissus.  Some  writers  think  that  this 
was  the  famous  freedman  and  favorite  of  the  Emperor 
Claudius,  mentioned  in  the  Annals  of  Tacitus,  Bk.  xi. 
29;  xiii.  I.     He  was  dead  at  the  time  this  epistle  was 


4o6  The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  12 : — Salute  Tryphena  and  Tryphosa^  who  labor  in  the 
Lord.  Salute  the  beloved  Persis,  which  labored  much  in  the 
Lord. 

V.  13 : — Salute  Rufus  chosen  in  the  Lord,  and  his  mother 
and  mine. 

written ;  but  those  of  his  household,  whether  children 
or  slaves,  may  have  been  living. 

V.  12.  Tryphena  and  Trypbosa,  Supposed 
from  the  feminine  form  of  the  names  to  have  been 
women.  Both  the  names,  which  are  Greek,  mean 
"  voluptuous  "  or  *'  dainty."  However  they  may  once 
have  been,  they  were  not  now  too  dainty  to  tot/  for 
the  Lord.  The  word  kapiosas  means  to  work  until 
one  grows  weary,  or  exhausted,  to  toil.  Persis  was 
another  Christian  woman  who  also  worked  laboriously 
in  the  Lord. 

V.  13.  RufttS.  This  may  have  been  the  same 
Rufus  mentioned  in  Mark  xv.  21.  Chosen  in  the 
I/Ord,  An  excellent  or  choice  Christian.  His 
mother  and  mine,  Paul  seems  to  have  been  suf- 
ficiently intimate  with  the  family  of  Rufus  to  justify 
him  in  calling  the  aged  Christian  his  mother.  She 
had  doubtless  shown  toward  him  a  mother's  love. 
He  may  have  lived  with  the  family  while  studying  at 
the  feet  of  Gamaliel.  At  the  time  Mark  wrote  his 
gospel  Rufus  and  Alexander,  her  sons,  seem  to  have 
been  well-known  Christians.  If  this  be  the  same 
Rufus  the  family  must  have  moved  from  Jerusalem  to 
Rome. 

V.  14.  The  brethren  which  are  with  them. 

The  Christians  at  Rome  seem  to  have  been  grouped 


Chapter  XVI.  407 


V,  14: — Salute  Asyncritus,  Phlegon,  Hennas,  PatrobaSy 
HermeSy  and  the  brethren  which  are  with  them. 

V.  15  : — Salute  Philologus,  and  Julia,  Nereus,  and  his  sister ^ 
and  Olympas,  and  all  the  saints  which  are  with  them. 

V.  16  : — Salute  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss.  The  churches 
of  Christ  salute  you. 

into  different  small  bands  or  "  churches,"  for  the  pur- 
pose of  convenience  in  worshiping  in  the  houses  of 
some  members  of  the  respective  groups,  before  any 
public  church  building  was  erected.  Perhaps  also 
the  assembling  of  small  bands  would  attract  the  at- 
tention of  their  enemies  to  a  less  extent.  The  per- 
sons named  in  this  verse  seemed  to  be  mentioned  as 
the  representatives  of  one  of  the  groups.  See  also 
other  groups  referred  to  in  verses  5,  and  perhaps  in 
lo  and  II,  and  also  verse  15. 

V.  16.  Salute  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss. 

See  also  i  Cor.  xvi.  20 ;  2  Cor.  xiii.  12  ;  i  Thess.  v.  26 ; 
I  Peter  v.  14.  This  is  known  as  the  **  kiss  of  charity," 
and  is  supposed  to  have  been  of  Eastern  origin.  The 
custom  was  perpetuated  in  the  Church  for  several 
centuries.  It  was  especially  one  of  the  rites  of  the 
sacramental  service,  but  was  also  observed  on  com- 
mon occasions  of  public  worship,  the  brethren  thus 
saluting  the  brethren  and  the  sisters  the  sisters.  The 
holy  kiss  was  expressive  of  mutual  Christian  affection 
and  equality  before  God.  It  was  omitted  on  Good 
Friday,  in  remembrance  of  the  traitorous  kiss  of 
Judas  Iscariot.  It  became  for  the  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity the  occasion  of  reproach,  and  seems  to  have 
been  entirely  abandoned  about  the  close  of  the 
twelfth  century.  One  or  two  minor  sects,  however, 
still  observe  this  rite. 


4o8         The  EP1STI.K  to  the  Romans. 

V.  17  -.—Now  I  beseech  you^  brethren^  mark  them  which 
cause  divisions  a7id  offences  contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  ye 
have  learned  ;  and  avoid  them. 


The  Churches  of  Christ  salute  you,  Paul 
was  in  constant  communication  with  the  Churches, 
particularly  those  west  of  Jerusalem,  and  he  had 
doubtless  informed  them  of  his  intended  correspond- 
ence with  the  Christians  at  Rome,  or  of  his  intended 
visit  thither.  They  authorize  him  to  transmit  their 
salutations.  So  this  epistle  becomes  the  immediate 
occasion  of  bringing  all  the  Christians  at  Rome  and 
the  other  parts  of  the  world  closer  together  in  the 
bonds  of  a  holy  love.  It  would  be  well  for  all  the 
Churches  of  Christendom  of  to-day  to  pause  in  their 
strivings  against  one  another  at  least  long  enough 
once  a  year  to  greet  one  another  in  sincerity  and 
truth  with  the  "holy  kiss"  of  mutual  esteem  and 
affection.  If  this  sixteenth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans  brought  the  Churches  of  the  world  nearer 
to  each  other  even  for  a  little  while,  it  was  by  no 
means  a  valueless  part  of  the  epistle.  If  it  should 
remind  the  Churches  through  the  ages  that  true 
Christian  affection  is  hardly  less  valuable  than  a  sound 
Christian  doctrine,  no  one  can  ever  say  that  it  is  a 
mere  chapter  of  dry  names  and  meaningless  saluta- 
tions. 

Instead  of  "  the  Churches  of  Christ  salute  you,"  the 
Revised  Version,  following  the  better  Greek  text, 
reads,  "All  the  Churches  of  Christ  salute  you." 

V.  17.  Now  I  beseech  you,  etc.  What  words  of 
earnest,  solemn  warning !  See  i  Cor.  v.  1-5  ;  Col.  ii. 
10-33 ;   I  Tim.  iv.   1-8,  for  illustrations  of  the  schis- 


Chapter  XVI.  409 


V.  18 : — For  they  that  are  such  serve  not  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  but  their  own  belly ;  and  by  good  words  and  fair 
speeches  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  simple. 

V.  19 : — For  your  obedience  is  come  abroad  unto  all  men. 
/  am  glad  therefore  on  your  behalf:  but  yet  I  would  have 
you  wise  unto  that  which  is  good,  and  simple  concerning  evil^ 

V.  20 : And  the  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under 

your  feet  shortly.  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be 
with  you.     Amen. 


matic  influences  which  were  already  creeping  in 
among  the  Churches,  and  against  which,  and  all  such, 
Paul  beseeches  the  Christians  at  Rome  to  be  on  the 
guard.  He  says  of  the  sowers  of  these  pernicious 
seed  that  they  "serve  their  own  belly" — they  are 
actuated  by  selfish  considerations. 

V.  18.  JPor  yonr  obedience  is  come  abroad, 

«tc.  May  a  flock  which  is  now  so  simple,  so  devoid 
of  evil,  so  pure,  never  become  a  prey  to  false  teach- 
ers, wolves  in  sheep's  clothing.     See  chap.  i.  8. 

V.  20.  The  God  of  peace.  Here  called  the  God 
of  peace  in  reference  to  the  divisions  and  scandals 
referred  to  in  verses  17-19,  and  to  which  they  were 
only  the  more  exposed  on  account  of  their  simplicity 
and  guilelessness.  Observe  the  caution  here  given, 
and  the  God  of  peace  shall  make  quick  work  of 
crushing  Satan  under  your  feet  whenever  he  shall 
come  among  you  in  the  person  of  his  emissaries  to 
disturb  your  peace  or  corrupt  your  purity.  The 
Apostle  seems  to  have  in  mind  here  the  words  of  Gen- 
esis iii.  15. 

Prof.  Moses  Stuart,  and  others,  have  incorrectly 
regarded  the  verb  in  this  verse  as  used  in  an  opta- 


4IO         The  Bpisti^e  to  the  Romans. 

V.  21  '.—Timoiheus  my  workfellow^  and  Lucius^  and  JasoUy 
and  Sosipater,  my  kinsmen^  salute  you. 

V.  22 :— /  TeriiuSy  who  wrote  this  epistle,  salute  you  in  the 
Lord. 

V.  23 : — Gains  mine  hosty  and  of  the  whole  church,  saluteth 
you.  Erastus  the  chamberlain  0/  the  city  saluteth  you,  and 
Quartus  a  brother. 

sense,  rendering  the  words  as  a  prayer — "May  the 
God  of  peace  bruise,"  etc.  On  the  contrary,  Paul 
declares  that  it  shall  be  done — not  erelong,  but  in  short 
time  should  Satan  once  come  among  them.  The  way 
to  make  quick  work  of  our  spiritual  enemies  when 
they  attack  us  is  to  be  ever  on  the  alert  before  they 
attack  us. 

V.  21.  Timotbeus,  Timothy.  If  Timothy  was 
not  with  Paul  when  he  wrote  this  epistle,  as  seems 
probable,  he  was  with  him  shortly  before,  and  may 
have  asked  Paul  to  transmit  his  salutations  to  the 
Roman  Christians.  Timothy  was  personally  known 
to  some  of  them.  Acts  xviii.  1-5.  IfUcittS.  Possi- 
bly Lucius  of  Cyrene.  Acts  xiii.  i.  Jason,  Acts 
xvii.  5.  Sosipater.  Acts  xx.  4.  Nothing  whatever 
is  known,  with  certainty,  in  regard  to  the  identity  of 
these  persons.  My  kinsmen.  See  vs.  7,  11.  The 
word  (sugeneis)  does  not  inform  us  whether  they 
were  the  blood  relations  of  Paul  or  not ;  they  may 
have  been  his  fellow  countrymen. 

V.  22.  I  Tertins,  He  was  Paul's  amanuensis  or 
secretary. 

V.  23.  Gains,  Probably  the  one  mentioned  in  i 
Cor.  i.  14,  as  the  one  whom  Paul  had  baptized.    There 


Chapter  XVI.  411 


V.  24: — The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you 
all.    Amen. 

was  another  Gaius,  a  native  of  Derbe.  Acts  xx.  4. 
See  also  Acts  xix.  29.  Mine  host,  and  of  the 
whole  Church.  Acts  xviii.  1-7.  The  house  of 
Gaius  seems  to  have  been  ever  open  to  receive  Chris- 
tian strangers.  Mrastus.  Most  probably  not  the 
one  mentioned  in  Acts  xix.  22,  but  the  one  referred 
to  in  2  Tim.  iv.  20.  Quartus  the  brother.  Wholly 
unknown  to  us,  but  perhaps  well  known  to  Christians 
at  Rome,  as  he  is  designated  simply  as  "  the  brother  " 
— the  Christian  brother. 

V.  24.  The  Grace  of  our  I/ord  Jesus  Christ 
be  with  you  all.  The  benediction  of  verse  20  re- 
peated. In  this  verse  the  Revised  Version  omits  it. 
It  is  also  omitted  in  the  four  most  ancient  manu- 
scripts. It  is  found  in  the  Syriac,  the  Vulgate  of 
Sextus,  and  Clement.  Chrysostom  in  his  Homilies 
regards  it  as  genuine,  as  do  other  Greek  Fathers.  Its 
genuineness  is  defended  by  Meyer,  Godet,  and  other 
modern  critical  commentators.  Olshausen  regards  it 
as  genuine,  but  attributes  it  to  Tertius,  and  the  one  in 
verse  20  to  Paul.  It  is  most  probably  the  genuine, 
though  repeated,  benediction  of  Paul,  its  omission  in 
some  ancient  manuscripts  and  versions  being  more 
easily  accounted  for  than  its  insertion.  It  is  not  in- 
consistent with  the  affectionate  fervor  and  earnest  de- 
sire of  Paul  for  the  continued  welfare  of  the  Roman 
Christians  that  he  should  twice  in  concluding  say, 
May  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you 
all  in  respect  to  all  these  matters  of  which  I  have 
written  you. 


413         The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  25 : — Now  to  him  that  is  0/  power  to  stablish  you  accord- 
ing to  my  gospel,  and  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christy  accord' 
ing  to  the  revelation  of  the  -mystery ,  which  was  kept  secret 
since  the  world  began. 

Vs.  25-27.  After  the  benediction  comes  the  doxol- 
ogy,  "  rich  in  contents,  deep  in  feeling,  in  which  the 
leading  ideas  contained  in  the  whole  epistle,  as  they 
had  already  found  in  the  introduction  (i.  1-5)  their 
preluding  key-note,  and  again  in  xi.  33-36,  their  pre- 
liminary doxological  expression,  now  further  receive 
in  the  fullest  unison  of  inspired  piety  their  concen- 
trated outburst  for  the  ultimate  true  consecration  of 
the  whole."     (Meyer.) 

According  to  my  gospel.  Not  "  in  my  gospel," 
or  "by  means  of  my  gospel,"  but  "agreeably  to  my 
gospel,"  in  such  a  manner  as  my  gospel  requires. 
This  is  the  view  adopted  by  Stuart,  Hodge,  and 
others,  but  Meyer  prefers  the  first.  My  gospel,  A 
somewhat  characteristic  phrase  of  Paul.  See  chap, 
ii.  16;  I  Tim.  i.  11  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  8.  By  his  gospel  he 
does  not  mean  a  gospel  different  essentially  from  that 
of  the  other  apostles ;  he  means  simply  the  good  tid- 
ings which  he  preached,  the  prominent  characteristics 
of  the  doctrinal  parts  of  which  were  (i)  Salvation  by 
grace  through  faith  in  Christ,  and  not  by  works ;  (2) 
Salvation  provided  for  all.  It  is  probable  also  that 
Paul  meant  to  include  in  this  reference  to  his  gospel 
certain  ethical  elements,  as  consecration,  love  for  one 
another,  humility,  etc. 

The  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  may 
mean  either  the  preaching  which  Christ  did,  or  the 
preaching  which  the  Apostle  did  and  of  which  Christ 
was  the  subject.     Both  make  a  good  sense.     Paul's 


Chapter  XVL  413 


V.  26 : — But  now  is  made  manifest^  and  by  the  Scriptures 
of  the  prophets^  according  to  the  commandment  of  the  ever- 
lasting God,  made  known  to  all  nations  for  the  obedience  of 
faith : 

preaching  or  gospel  was  in  deepest  harmony  with 
Christ's  preaching.  And  Christ  was  the  very  center 
and  core  of  Paul's  gospel.  Both  these  propositions 
are  true.  It  is  perhaps  better,  however,  to  suppose 
that  Paul  had  in  mind  the  second  of  the  two  mean- 
ings, as  it  seems  to  be  more  pertinent  to  his  immediate 
thought  to  regard  him  as  affirming  that  the  subject  of 
his  gospel  was  Christ,  rather  than  that  his  gospel  and 
Christ's  gospel  were  the  same  gospel. 

The  revelation  of  the  mystery.  The  preached 
gospel  is  itself  the  revelation  of  the  mystery,  and  this 
gospel  Paul  himself  had  received  by  supernatural  rev- 
elation. Kept  secret  since  the  world  began. 
The  Gentiles  had  lived  in  the  darkness;  the  Old 
Testament  saints  in  the  twilight. 

V.  26.  By  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets.    In 

making  known  the  "  mystery,"  or  gospel,  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  were  used  as  a  means.  These 
Scriptures  had  not  been  clearly  understood,  and  in  the 
gospel  they  received  their  clearest  and  fullest  inter- 
pretation. Paul  himself  in  writing  this  epistle  had, 
as  we  have  seen,  made  much  use  of  the  writings  of 
the  prophets.     See  Luke  xxiv.  27  ;  Acts  xiii.  23-41. 

The  everlasting  God.  The  God  who  was  when 
the  world  began,  and  who  is  now,  could  alone  cause 
the  mystery  to  be  made  known.  Por  the  obedience 
of  faith.  Unto  the  obedience  which  consists  in 
faith,  chap.  i.  5.  This  was  the  end  aimed  at  in  mak- 
ing the  mystery  known. 


414         ^^^  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

V.  27: — To  God  only  wise^  be  glory  through  Jesus  Christ 
for  ever.    Amen. 

%  Written  to  the  Romans  from  CorinthuSy  and  sent  by  Phebe 

servant  of  the  church  at  Cenchrea. 

V.  27.  To  God  only  wise.  He  who  could  devise 
and  execute  the  plan  of  redemption  as  set  forth  by- 
Paul  is  indeed  so  wise  that  in  comparison  with  him 
no  other  being  can  be  so  called.  "  O  the  depth  of  the 
riches  and  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God !  How  un- 
searchable are  his  judgments  and  his  ways  past  find- 
ing out."     (xi.  33.) 

Amen.  This  word  expresses  an  energetic  or  hearty- 
affirmation  of  or  assent  to  the  truth  of  a  statement. 
It  often  occurs  in  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
and  in  the  Gospels  is  frequently  translated  "  verily." 
In  the  ancient  synagogue  service  and  in  that  of  the 
early  Christian  Church  it  was  customary  to  say 
" amen"  to  the  prayers  of  the  rabbin  or  pastor. 

Subscription :  "  Written  to  the  Romans  from 
Corinthus,  and  sent  by  Phebe  servant  of  the  Church 
at  Chencrea."  See  xvi.  i,  and  note.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary for  us  to  suppose  that  this  subscription  was  writ- 
ten by  Paul.  The  Romans  would  know  that  he  was 
at  Corinth  when  he  wrote  it,  and  that  Phebe  was  the 
bearer  of  it.  It  is  not  usually  regarded  as  a  part  of 
the  epistle. 


'■:;h\-^ 


Date  Due 

'W 

a    ^ 

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